![]() Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979 CE for Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, & MFT!! Section 12
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a condition that describes a range of physical and emotional changes that many mothers can have after having a baby. Roughly ten percent of pregnancies result in postpartum depression, which can occur a few days or even months after delivery. There
are three types of PPD women can have after giving birth: Postpartum depression (PPD) can happen a few days or even months after childbirth. PPD can happen after the birth of any child, not just the first child. A woman can have feelings similar to the baby blues - sadness, despair, anxiety, irritability - but she feels them much more strongly than she would with the baby blues. PPD often keeps a woman from doing the things she needs to do every day. When a womans ability to function is affected, this is a sure sign that she needs to see her health care provider right away. If a woman does not get treatment for PPD, symptoms can get worse and last for as long as 1 year. While PPD is a serious condition, it can be treated with medication and counseling. Postpartum psychosis is a very serious mental illness that can affect new mothers. This illness can happen quickly, often within the first 3 months after childbirth. Women can lose touch with reality, often having auditory hallucinations, such as hearing things that arent actually happening, like a person talking. Women can also have delusions or see things differently from what they are. Visual hallucinations, or seeing things that arent there, are less common. Other symptoms include insomnia, feeling agitated and unsettled, angry, and strange feelings and behaviors. Women who have postpartum psychosis need treatment right away and almost always need medication. Sometimes women are put into the hospital because they are at risk for hurting themselves or someone else. No
one knows for sure what causes postpartum depression. Hormonal changes in
a womans body may trigger its symptoms. During pregnancy, the amount of
two female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, in a womans body increase
greatly. In the first 24 hours after childbirth, the amount of these hormones
rapidly drops and keeps dropping to the amount they were before the woman became
pregnant. Researchers think these changes in hormones may lead to depression,
just as smaller changes in hormones can affect a womans moods before she
gets her menstrual period. Personal
Reflection Journaling Activity #9 Update Kleiman, K., & Waller, H. (2023). The Art of Holding Perinatal Women in Distress. Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.), 4(1), 111–117. Peer-Reviewed Journal Article References: Geschwind, N., Bosgraaf, E., Bannink, F., & Peeters, F. (2020). Positivity pays off: Clients’ perspectives on positive compared with traditional cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. Psychotherapy, 57(3), 366–378. Gómez Penedo, J. M., Coyne, A. E., Constantino, M. J., Krieger, T., Hayes, A. M., & grosse Holtforth, M. (2020). Theory-specific patient change processes and mechanisms in different cognitive therapies for depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(8), 774–785.
QUESTION 12
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