Postnatal
Depression

Postnatal Depression and Maternal Mental Health Disorders

FMHP proudly specializes in treating women’s issues such as Perinatal and Postpartum Mood Disorders. However, my team and I also treat women who suffer from neonatal loss or any other woman-related issue. Understanding that with children come scheduling conflicts, we welcome you to bring your child(ren). As part of the postpartum treatment regime, our clinicians will go to your home for the first three sessions, and then you are encouraged to complete the remaining sessions at one of our main offices.

Approximately one in seven women suffer from perinatal depression. According to the CDC, one out of five women will suffer from postpartum depression. However, most women are left untreated due to the stigma associated with such illness. Moreover, most women, given that they just had a newborn, will not want to seek treatment due to the lack of sleep, and fatigue that comes with having a newborn. You may not feel “up to it”, or may feel that your body is not really ready to go out into the new world. Although most of these feelings are common and may be known as the “baby blues”, it is imperative that you consult with your doula, OBGYN, medical doctor, psychologist or mental health professional since talking about these emotions, changes, and challenges is one of the best ways to cope with the “baby blues”. Usually baby blues may appear for the first two to three weeks after having a newborn. However, baby blues may sometimes turn into postpartum depression.

How can you tell the difference?
For starters, what is postpartum?A term used following the birth of a child. Postnatal and postpartum are terms that can be used interchangeably. Perinatal is a term used to describe a time immediately before or after birth.