We know about postpartum depression. But an even more common problem for new mothers is an anxiety disorder. How to overcome your fears?
Five months after the birth of her second child, a 35-year-old woman noticed a strange lump on her thigh, which she mistook for a cancerous tumor. A few days later, before she could see a therapist, she thought she had had a stroke. Her body went numb, her head was spinning, her heart was pounding.
Fortunately, the “swelling” on the leg turned out to be banal cellulitis, and the “stroke” turned out to be a panic attack. Where did all these imaginary diseases come from?
Doctors diagnosed her with «postpartum anxiety disorder.» “I was haunted by obsessive thoughts about death. About how I am dying, how my children are dying … I could not control my thoughts. Everything annoyed me and I was constantly engulfed in rage. I thought I was a terrible mother if I experienced such emotions, ”she recalls.
5 or 6 months after the third birth, the oppressive anxiety returned, and the woman began a new stage of treatment. Now she is expecting her fourth child and does not suffer from an anxiety disorder, although she is ready for his new attacks. At least this time she knows what to do.
Postpartum anxiety is even more common than postpartum depression
Postpartum anxiety, a condition that causes women to feel constantly anxious, is even more common than postpartum depression. So says a team of Canadian psychiatrists led by Nicole Fairbrother, professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia.
Psychologists interviewed 310 pregnant women who had a tendency to anxiety. Women took part in the survey before childbirth and three months after the birth of the child.
It turned out that approximately 16% of the respondents experienced anxiety and suffered from anxiety-related disorders during pregnancy. At the same time, 17% complained of severe anxiety in the initial postpartum period. On the other hand, their rates of depression were lower: only 4% for pregnant women and about 5% for women who had recently given birth.
Nicole Fairbrother is convinced that the national postpartum anxiety statistics are even more impressive.
“After discharge from the hospital, every woman is given a bunch of booklets about postpartum depression. Tears, suicidal thoughts, depression — I did not have the symptoms that the midwife asked me about. But no one mentioned the word “anxiety,” writes the heroine of the story. “I just thought I was a bad mother. It never occurred to me that my negative emotions and nervousness were not related to this at all.
Fear and irritation can overtake them at any moment, but they can be dealt with.
“Since I started blogging, once a week I get a letter from a woman: “Thank you for sharing this. I didn’t even know that this happens, ”says the blogger. She believes that in most cases it is enough for women to know that fears and irritation can overtake them at any moment, but they can be dealt with.
1. N. Fairbrother et al. «Perinatal anxiety disorder prevalence and incidence», Journal of Affective Disorders, August 2016.