It is true that no one can resist the urge to wonder the changes their body has gone through the previous 9 months of pregnancy. All those worries will be compensated the moment when you hold your little wonder close to your heart. Grappling with the new role – mother, its responsibilities, and figuring out how to look after your child, who solely depends on you, can be overwhelming, but is still manageable for most of us.
But the period that follows immediately after the delivery, the postpartum period, during when the mother’s body starts to rebuild the strength and heals the injuries happens during the child birth (either vaginal or cesarean) and progress towards the fitness will not manageable for some group of mothers.
There will be lots of issues that can bother a woman during the postpartum period. This includes both physical and psychiatric.
Studies have shown, during the postpartum period almost 85% of the mothers come across some degree of mood disturbances. Most of these mood disturbances are not severe and last only a short time. Nevertheless, around 15% of the mothers develops a significant symptom of anxiety or psychiatric issues which last for a long time.
The psychiatric ailment during the postpartum period can be divided into three groups:
Of the three groups, the most severe form of psychiatric complaint develops during the postpartum period is Postpartum psychosis.
Postpartum psychosis is a group of severe mental illness that affects a new mom during her postpartum period. Though it is a very severe condition, it rarely happens, like, one or two among thousand new mothers. The beginning of the symptoms happens generally within three days after giving birth to the baby. More symptoms surface with in first two weeks of postpartum. It can be an alarming episode for ladies, their accomplices, and loved ones.
Postpartum psychosis can happen to any woman. Sometimes, it happens ‘all of a sudden’ to a woman who has not been psychiatrically ill before. But, there are some risk factors which increases the chance to have a postpartum psychosis. Such as:
There are several factors that can lead to postpartum psychosis.
The symptoms of postpartum psychosis generally is a mixture of symptoms of depression and symptoms of mania. These symptoms can change rapidly from hour to hour and from day to day. It also varies from one woman to another. Generally, a woman suffering from postpartum psychosis will be unaware of it. It is her close family members who notice the symptoms.
The earlier (onset) symptoms includes:
Once the postpartum psychosis progresses (within first two weeks of the postpartum period) the symptoms includes:
Postpartum psychosis is considered as a psychiatric emergency. So it is important to look out help as soon as possible. Also, postpartum psychosis reacts well to the treatment. If left untreated, the condition will become too dangerous. There is a serious risk of life to both the mother and the new-born baby.
Most of the mothers, if treated well, are found to recover within weeks. Of course, the pace of the recovering depends on the severity. But postpartum psychosis is entirely curable even if it takes more time in severe cases.
Yes. The chances are more for a woman to have postpartum psychosis if she had it during her previous delivery.
Postpartum psychosis can’t be prevented completely in all cases. Yet, there are several measures that can be taken to reduce the severity of postpartum psychosis if you know that you fall under the increased risk group.
The partner also needs some care as the postpartum psychosis of the mother can be stressful and upsetting for the father too. So ask him to find some ways to relax himself and cope up with the situation and ensure him that his wife and child are going to be fine soon
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