Postpartum depression - Symptoms, causes and treatment
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00:00We are going to talk about post-mortem depression.
00:03After the birth of a child, what kind of emotions does the mother go through?
00:08Obviously, her life changes all of a sudden.
00:10So, how much does it affect her mental health?
00:14And the things that Ashfaq told us,
00:16that you feel that you are not a good mother,
00:18this becomes more depressing and she gets into guilt.
00:21So, let's talk about this.
00:23We have with us, the clinical psychologist Dr. Mehmuna Jehangir.
00:28Thank you so much, Dr. Mehmuna, for joining us.
00:30My pleasure.
00:31First of all, we tried, you tell us in simple words,
00:33what is post-mortem depression?
00:35See, Ashfaq said the right thing.
00:37Here, we expect that basically,
00:40after the childbirth, everything is over.
00:45Post-mortem depression means that
00:48after childbirth, post-mortem,
00:51after that, depression,
00:53as he said, there are bodily changes.
00:56So, changes, depression,
00:58one thing is baby blues,
01:00and one thing is depression.
01:02When you have childbirth here,
01:05after that, there are changes in three things.
01:08Chemical change, social change, and psychological change.
01:12Chemical change, rapid drop of chemicals,
01:15because during pregnancy, your progesterone is high,
01:18estrogen is high in women.
01:20When it comes down immediately,
01:22the hormones get completely disturbed.
01:24Because of that, you have more proneness.
01:27Second thing is social change,
01:29then psychological, identity crisis starts.
01:32You become mother,
01:34all your relationships are seen in this dynamics,
01:37all your relationships change,
01:39even with your husband.
01:41And one thing is being monitored, judged,
01:43in-laws, in-laws.
01:45Yes, yes, all these things are there,
01:47it is seen that we have also,
01:49this is very common that we have also given birth to children,
01:52this did not happen with us.
01:54And in my family,
01:56once they told me,
01:58they were of old age,
02:00that would I have ever felt like this,
02:03which today's girls can easily tell,
02:05that I am feeling this.
02:07So, at that time, I realized that
02:09earlier, the women in our family,
02:11they did not realize this.
02:13They did not have awareness.
02:15They did not have awareness,
02:17and they would be going through these things,
02:19so they could not tell.
02:21So, tell me this,
02:23this condition is said to last for 6 weeks.
02:25Now, there are two things in it,
02:27either caesarean or normal delivery.
02:29In caesarean, you still get a margin,
02:31in that also, the family gives some leverage.
02:33Since there is no understanding in this,
02:35you are expected to start from the 3rd or 4th day,
02:37in your ordinary work.
02:39What is the way to deal with this?
02:41And is there any medical treatment for this?
02:43Are these things sorted by medication?
02:45Or what is the way to deal with this?
02:47See, the starting,
02:49if it is said to rest for 6 weeks,
02:51at that time,
02:53social support is very important.
02:55I will not just say that,
02:57what a mother should do,
02:59as a society,
03:01like for example,
03:03if a child is born in a house,
03:05the whole family should support that thing,
03:07and there should be this awareness
03:09in the family,
03:11that even if it is your normal delivery,
03:13or caesarean, it is not possible
03:15that you start working from the 2nd day.
03:17You have a child,
03:19which is solely dependent on you.
03:21For feed, for everything,
03:23you are the source.
03:25And if you expect from them,
03:27that they should deal with a child also,
03:29and deal with other issues also.
03:31And bodily changes and other things.
03:33So, why shouldn't there be a session for this,
03:35in the hospital, with the husband,
03:37with the family, can this be done?
03:39Of course, it can be done.
03:41This happens in private sectors.
03:43Many families opt for this option,
03:45that they should know about this.
03:47Many husbands are concerned about this,
03:49that how to deal with this.
03:51But sometimes,
03:53when their wives get depressed,
03:55then they approach,
03:57that how to deal.
03:59And sometimes, husbands don't even understand,
04:01what is happening, what is the problem.
04:03This is something new,
04:05which is being discussed.
04:07It has been there for a long time,
04:09but something else has been named.
04:11Because they can't go through this,
04:13You can't relate to a lot of things,
04:15but when there is awareness,
04:17when you tell them,
04:19when they are aware,
04:21then it can be understood.
04:23Tell me one more thing,
04:25that in our healthcare system,
04:27education and health are two departments,
04:29where our funds are very little allocated.
04:31In the private sector,
04:33it is possible,
04:35that there will be a psychiatrist,
04:37evaluation and sessions.
04:39In the government sector,
04:41there are a lot of problems.
04:43So, how to manage there?
04:45You are doing a show,
04:47awareness is being created.
04:49Apart from this,
04:51if we do seminars on a platform,
04:53this topic is not discussed much.
04:55It is not taken into consideration,
04:57that this is a problem.
04:59They say that time will pass.
05:01So, seminars like this,
05:03where men are also called,
05:05families are also called,
05:07mothers are also called.
05:09See, the woman,
05:11who is going to give birth,
05:13she also does not have awareness,
05:15what we are going to go through it.
05:17When it happens suddenly,
05:19then they understand,
05:21there is a lot of irritability,
05:23and self-blaming.
05:25I am not a good mother.
05:27Sometimes I get angry at my child.
05:29They start judging themselves,
05:31that the mother's love is very less.
05:33And they add more to the depression.
05:35Thank you so much Dr. Paimona Jahangir,
05:37I hope that people understand,
05:39that this is not an issue,
05:41that someone is doing it on purpose.
05:43It is all related to the hormones.