what will it take I wonder for this thread to be

Janfriend said:

Postpartum depression, due to the hormonal and biological changes a woman experiences after giving birth, will, eventually, lift. How long it lasts and the severity of symptoms will vary from woman to woman. Some women might not feel postpartum depression at all, others might only have mild symptoms that they feel they can deal with and/or they don't feel warrant taking medication.

Some women, like Brooke Shields, will experience *severe* postpartum depression symptoms. They can suffer severe, debilitating panic attacks, sometimes multiple times per day. (ever had a panic attack? a SEVERE panic attack?) They might become so depressed they cannot handle even the basic day-to-day tasks, like caring for themselves...i.e. bathing, eating, working, etc...or caring for their newborn child they way they should, and they way they want to.

And when it gets as bad as it did in Brooke's case, and the woman is suffering that extremely, taking medication is sometimes lifesaving because some women can experience such terrible PPD they become suicidal.

So, considering that it is not a specific given as to WHEN the depression might lift, and taking into consideration that when the symptoms become so severe and extreme that the woman can't even function - then just "waiting out" the postpartum depression might be near impossible, or even be dangerous.

Deciding when and if a case of postpartum depression is bad enough to require medication is something that is going to be unique to each individual woman whom experiences it, and something for she and her doctor to decide between them as to what is best for HER particular needs/situation.



I'm sure therapy might help and in some cases it MAY be enough to help the woman cope with her symptoms until they subside. In other cases, like I mentioned above, simple therapy isn't going to be enough.

I don't understand how some people can't comprehend that postpartum depression - and, in fact, many cases of depression, period - isn't solely an emotionally based condition. CHEMICAL IMBALANCES IN THE BODY PLAY A PART Chemical and hormonal imbalances which manifest themselves AS severe depression, panic attacks, mood swings, etc. When there is a biological, physical component to the issue, then simple talk therapy isn't going to be enough....the physical component needs to be addressed.

If you developed an infection somewhere of some kind in your body: be it bladder, pneumonia, wharever, there is every possibility that at some point your body would recover on its own without taking antiobiotics or another drug treatment of some kind and, if you're willing to suffer out the pain and symptoms for an unknown amount of time and wait for it to go away on its own, then that's your call. However, NOT treating the infection with antibiotics might allow the infection to take a greater hold on your body, might cause greater - and lasting - problems later on, and you might suffer needlessly for a long, long time. And talk therapy wouldn't do shit for you because the reason you're suffering is due to a specific PHYSICAL illness of your body.

Well, imo, postpartum depression is analogous to the above scenario. If the PPD is severe enough to cause a woman to be suicidal and non-functional, simply talking to someone might not be enough in some cases. So where is the shame in taking a medication to treat it when it becomes that extreme and that impactive on a life?

KaleidoscopeEyes said:

Yes, but what you're talking about is unconscious physical ailments. The difference is that what a person takes for their depression can usually be dealt with *without* the drugs. It is purely a matter of choice as to whether one takes them or not. I do think that they can give people a break from unmanageable feelings. Long term though, without some other way of dealing with the problems, they add *to* the problems.