Postnatal depression is a rather serious form of depression that many of us experience immediately after having a child. It is not the same as your first baby blues: it takes special treatment so that you can fully recover from it. While we all have experienced a bit of depression after losing a loved one or something close, for women it is particularly traumatic. The term "postnatal depression" can be used in two different ways. It can be used when you experience the symptoms after the birth of your baby, and it can be used when you are suffering from it long after the baby is born. Most people who experience postnatal depression talk about feeling sad and lonely during this time, and they might mention feeling restless and needing to sleep. However, other women talk about being depressed or "down in the dumps". These women might describe hallucinations and thoughts of hurting themselves and/or their baby, or suicidal thoughts. Only ten mothers develop postnatal ...
As a child of the eighties, I remember my parents' excitement over the idea of testing for depression in adults. The thought of taking a pill every day to "make me feel good," was a far more attractive option than the prescription drugs my parents were taking. I grew up with parents who could never imagine themselves as adults. In my mind, their adult emotions had to be somehow "determined" by some mental process that could never be completely understood by the average person. So they put aside their qualms about the use of psychiatric medications, and enjoyed the benefits of their choice. Today, I am an adult who have had "the experience" of having "depressed feelings," but not necessarily experienced the debilitating episodes of depression that my parents' generation did. Today, I have learned how to "cope." Through a course of prescribed medication and therapy, I have discovered how to treat depression, and I no longer take...