Everything has gone well: Mom is recovering without problems, her baby is beautiful and healthy. You should feel happy and yet experience deep sadness (or depression? Why?
There is a lot of legend about motherhood. All the good things they tell you are true, but nobody tells you the bad. No one anticipates that you will not be able to bathe, or read the newspaper, or watch the news, because the baby cries as soon as you turn around.
The specialists affirm that there is an idealization of motherhood that hurts many mothers because they do not live that ideal motherhood that the advertisements and movies show and they feel guilty about it. If you think your child is not wonderful, you blame yourself.
That is why after giving birth, not only deep sadness can occur, but also other more or less serious emotional pathologies, such as depression.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that depression will be one of the most relevant health problems in the coming decades. Let us add to this that it affects twice as many women as men, which manifests itself more during the reproductive cycle and that also its appearance coincides, on many occasions, with stages such as pregnancy and postpartum. But…
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE THE SADNESS OF TRUE DEPRESSION?
• Postpartum depression is a psychiatric disorder that requires medical diagnosis and treatment.
• It appears around three months after delivery, even after, and the symptoms are much more serious and disabling: insomnia, irritability, extreme sadness, feeling of worthlessness, lack of appetite, inability to care for the baby and even suicidal thoughts.
• It is a more frequent problem in women with a history of previous depression or psychiatric disorders, and also in adverse personal circumstances (lack of support, financial problems, etc.).
A determining factor: the duration time
Like all adaptive disorders, sadness is temporary and, although it depends on each woman and her circumstances, it is normal for it to subside in days. Little by little you will notice an improvement and that you can with the new situation. If not, it may be true postpartum depression.
If these symptoms do not disappear, or you see that your emotional distress worsens, you should tell your closest family members and consult a specialist, who will prescribe the appropriate treatment to solve the problem.