Symptoms of Postpartum Depression Essay Example

al, 2016). According to Barnes, baby blues affects almost 75% of baby mothers and such symptoms are visible during menstrual cycles and include anxiety, weeping for no reason and mood swings. However, from peer-reviewed articles and research, baby blues may start five or four days after birth. Additional symptoms include impatience, irritability, restlessness, sadness, fatigue, poor concentration and insomnia. Baby blues has been speculated to be caused by hormonal changes that occur during and after pregnancy. According to the author, Dr.

Barnes states that the number of women faced with this disorder might actually be greater than previously thought. On the same note, she argues that the symptoms of postpartum depression include waking out of sleep, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and intriguing images of harming occurring to her or her baby. Walking out of sleep, in this case, is coupled with difficulty in breathing and heavy pounding of the heart. In the case of obsessive compulsive, new mothers will usually be propelled to repeat, checking or counting things (Brunk, 2013). Additionally, from peer-reviewed literature other symptoms may include panic attacks, flashbacks of the birth experience, a feeling of detachment from reality, hyper vigilance, avoiding of anything that reminds her of the traumatic event like smell or people and relapses.

Additional literature has shown that relapses are a common phenomenon with regard to postpartum depression disorder. This supports the argument by Dr. Barnes where she experienced such relapses in the period between two to three years. Experiencing such symptoms according to the author can be very disturbing and might eventually lead to postpartum psychosis. According to the author, there has been a tendency for clinicians and primary care

providers to confuse these thoughts and intriguing images with post-psychosis breakdown (Brunk, 2013). This is one of the rarest case scenarios that can happen to a woman after birth and can only happen in one among a thousand women.

However, it is still characterized by obsessive-compulsive disorder. Questions regarding whether the symptoms are unique to each individual have not yet been explicitly answered, but in most cases, women display almost the same symptoms. Relevant to the same is causes of this disorder have not yet been exactly established, but it is most likely possible that they may be caused by the following issues: unplanned cesarean, emergency complications, powerlessness, lack of proper communication assurance and support among and from birth team members. In addition, abuse by the partner or spouse and obesity have been found to be associated with this disorder. According to the author and Dr. Barnes, this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed (Bell, et al, 2016).

Due to the attachment relationship between the mother and the child through the uterus, this may prove harmful to the baby as hormones cross the uterus. This puts a child at a high risk of low birth weight, premature births, and organ malformation among others. Thus, it is an issue that puts not only the mother at health risk but also poses the aforementioned health and physical problems to the newborn.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this postpartum disorder greatly affects quite a significant number of women, and this is basically unknown to most clinicians and psychiatrists.

Due to the adverse effects this may have on the new born and the mother, it is of undeniable importance that relevant

stakeholders are made aware of this disorder. From the analysis above, postpartum depression disorder calls for attention not only from clinicians but also from pregnant women and women in general, psychiatrist and the family members. Family members will be able to look out for such cases and take necessary action. In addition, other stakeholders like clinicians and psychiatrists in reading this study paper will be able to accurately assess whether a patient is suffering from this disorder or baby blues.

References

1. Bell, A. F., Carter, C. S., Davis, J. M., Golding, J., Adejumo, O., Pyra, M.,& Rubin, L. H. (2016). Childbirth and symptoms of postpartum depression and anxiety: a prospective birth cohort study. Archives of women's mental health, 19(2), 219-227.
2. Brunk, Doug (2013).

   Symptoms of Postpartum depression wide-ranging. Frontline Medical News.