Tina Merritt, now 39, of Virginia Beach, Va., had heard of postpartum depression when she was pregnant seven years ago. But when she gave birth to her son, Graham, she expected nothing but joy as she and her husband welcomed the baby boy who would be the first grandchild on both sides of their families.”It took me a while to get pregnant, and it was a huge deal for everyone,” Merritt says.”I worked right up to the end of my pregnancy and felt great. I’d planned so long for this baby, I really thought everything would be wonderful.”
Of course she did, says Michael Silverman, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. “Most women have bought into the belief that when you give birth to a child, you immediately feel love like you’ve never experienced. [But] for many women, that’s not reality. They feel that they’re defective, that something’s wrong, and they can’t talk to anyone about it.” …
True postpartum depression, on the other hand, can begin any time in the first year after a baby is born. “The diagnostic criteria for postpartum depression say it’s a depression that starts within the first four weeks after delivery, but it can start later than that — or even before delivery,” says Shoshana Bennett, PhD, a former president of Postpartum Support International and author of Postpartum Depression for Dummies and Pregnant on Prozac: The Essential Guide to Making the Best Decision for You and Your Baby.
Thank you for taking the time to write about my story and this very important topic. I hope your readers will benefit from this resource.