It Is Vital To Address Postpartum Mental Disorders

Pregnancy changes a lot of things in a woman’s body. She’s full of hormones that are doing so many different things and then boom! Baby’s born and the whole thing changes again. In that period following giving birth four to six percent of women experience some sort of issue such as the commonly named baby blues (postpartum depression) a panic disorder problem or postpartum anxiety. Each of these disorders may appear solo or they may appear together in one of many combination’s. The source of all of them is the major fluctuations in hormones and neurotransmitters during and immediately after pregnancy. One of the major risk factors for postpartum disorders is a previous history of anxiety problems. People with a family history of that type of disorder are also especially susceptible. These disorders may also be triggered by the enormous burden of stress they feel they are under. While most new mothers have concerns about their new babies and the responsibilities that come with them those who have problems with postpartum anxiety and panic disorder have unreasonable worries over the new baby and what they are able to do.

Postpartum anxiety is classified as a mood disorder. It may manifest itself in panic attacks, crippling anxiety and sometimes agoraphobia which makes the women in question fear being out in open or public spaces. Panic attacks are a constant threat because they blossom with no warning at all. The sufferer may be absolutely terrified during one and it may ultimately feed on the fear that another could come on at any time. A psychiatrist or psychotherapist can diagnose a person with this disorder if she exhibits a minimum of four of the fourteen symptoms that are included in the definition outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Common symptoms of anxiety disorders include problems with memory and concentration, inability to finish a project, poor decision making ability, exhaustion, insomnia, problems relaxing, lack of appetite, suicidal thoughts, and long term feelings of extreme uneasiness. Panic attacks themselves have a range of symptoms including a feeling of choking or smothering, shortness of breath, pain in the chest, irregular heart beat, racing pulse, chills and hot flashes, uncontrolled shaking, tingling sensations, nausea, dizziness, indigestion, feelings of disconnection form one’s surroundings, disorientation, depersonalization, fear of losing one’s mind, fear of acting with out control and the mother of them all, a feeling of unavoidable approaching doom.

There is such a thing as postpartum psychosis, a state in which the subject has hallucinations or delusions. This is a very rare disorder that normally presents itself in women with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder before the even. Postpartum psychosis requires emergency intervention in order to to preserve the safety of both mother and child. The most common treatment for these disorders is the use of appropriate medications in tandem with psychotherapy. This approach has been far more effective than any other form of intervention attempted. There are different types of medication that can be taken to help people suffering from anxiety. Xanax, Valium and Ativan help reduce the symptoms of panics attacks right away. Other options for medication are not so fast acting. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs are anti-depressants that may take as long as three weeks or a month to reach effectiveness. If she takes advantage of psychotherapy a woman can learn to identify the things that trigger her panic and anxiety and find ways to suppress the symptoms with bio-feedback techniques, relaxation exercises, deep breathing and other methods that may be of assistance. Luckily postpartum anxiety doesn’t last forever. It’s only a rough stop on the road of your life.