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Postpartum Depression

Helping Yourself Helps Your Family

By Jenn Director Knudsen

Rachel Jones* knew she wasn't herself when – mere weeks after the birth of her second child – balancing her checkbook became a huge burden and leaving the house with her two young sons in tow became a scary prospect.

"I was starting to get kind of paranoid about going out," says Jones, a mother of two sons, now 3 and 1. "The thought of going out with the two of them was getting overwhelming, completely overwhelming."

Jones became increasingly reclusive and that, she says, "was a signal." She says it was a signal not merely of feeling out of sorts but of being depressed.

With family living across the country, a husband who was a medical resident in neurology, a then 2-year-old "at the height of his negativism," and a new baby to care for, Jones says it's no wonder she – like so many new mothers – slipped into postpartum depression (PPD). "I think you're just kind of set up for it," says the Portland, Ore., resident.

Statistics vary, but most experts agree that about 20 percent of new mothers become clinically depressed up to one year after giving birth. Many go undiagnosed. The social stigma attached to depression keeps some women from seeking help, while others deny their condition because a new mom is expected to be elated about her new baby.

Not only does Mom suffer, but her entire family does, too, says Dr. Shoshana Bennett, a licensed psychologist, president of Postpartum Support International and author of Beyond the Blues: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Prenatal and Postpartum Depression (Moodswings Press, 2003). A spouse may feel helpless and the children may also become depressed.

"My family suffered for years," says Dr. Bennett of her husband and two children, a daughter, now 21, and son, 17. She endured undiagnosed PPD after the birth of both her children. "It really can be a debilitating illness," she adds.

But Dr. Bennett is quick to point out that with proper diagnosis and treatment the suffering can end – for everyone. "There can be devastating consequences to untreated PPD for a woman and her family," Dr. Bennett says. "This is diagnosable and treatable, and the sooner you get help the better. A woman should not suffer in silence."

Want to see more?

• Postpartum Depression: Preventing Tragedy
• Preparing for Postpartum Life: The Joys and Challenges of Life After Delivery
• Postpartum Depression: When Having a Baby Gives You More Than the Blues
• Talk about it!