Postpartum depression is caused by a drop in pregnancy hormones and affects about 10% of women. Bablues, experienced by 70% of women, is distinct from postpartum depression. Symptoms of depression require medical attention and can lead to injury to the newborn. Women with mood disorders or a family history of postpartum depression are at higher risk. Treatment can make a difference and therapy can help women feel like successful parents.
Postpartum depression is caused by the decline in pregnancy hormones, which begins to occur shortly after a baby is born or after a woman has suffered a miscarriage. All women will have this drop in hormones and some women experience symptoms of depression. The American Psychiatric Association currently estimates that about 10 percent of women experience at least mild postpartum depression after their pregnancy is over.
About 70% of all women experience “bablues” a few days after giving birth, which can include crying or feelings of mild anxiety or sadness. This is distinct from postpartum depression because bablues does not make a woman feel like she wants to hurt herself or her baby. Symptoms also usually disappear within a few days.
Postpartum depression tends to persist. Non-typical symptoms of bablues include exhaustion, confusion, fear of harming the baby or oneself, disinterest in the baby, and intense periods of crying. Mood changes can be sudden, and a woman with depression may not want to eat or have trouble sleeping.
These symptoms definitely require a doctor’s attention. About 0.2% of women at the end of a pregnancy (1 in 500) will experience postpartum psychosis. This condition is an exaggerated form of postpartum depression, with similar, more intense symptoms. Both the mother and the newborn are at risk in this situation. Even depression without psychotic features can lead to injury to the newborn without medical intervention.
Women are more at risk for this condition if they suffer from mood disorders such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder. If other members of their family have experienced this form of depression, women are also at an increased risk of developing it. A woman who had postpartum depression with a previous child has a 30-50% risk of experiencing the condition with her subsequent children.
Symptoms of depression should be taken very seriously. If they don’t clear up within a day or two, as bablues do, treatment can definitely make a difference in helping restore the mother to a healthy mental balance. Therapy may also be helpful, as many women feel the condition means they are unsuitable or bad mothers. This is not the case – they are simply mothers with a medical condition that requires treatment so they can be successful parents.
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