Postpartum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis appears in 1 out of every 1000 mothers and is a rare disease. Despite its rarity it is a important disease because it can result in hard consequences like maternal or infantile death. If a woman behaves differently and unusually towards her infant and neglects it, compared with expected maternal behavior, the mother may suffers from postpartum psychosis.

Postpartum psychosis is more likely to affect first time mothers and mothers with a history of similar mental diseases in or after their previous pregnancies. Moreover mothers with a family history of mental diseases are more vulnerable to postpartum psychosis. So mothers with these features require ongoing monitoring.

Postpartum psychosis usually appears within the first weeks postpartum. The symptoms can be diminished within the first weeks and in turn, it can relapse in the 4th-13th week postpartum and after stopping breast feeding. A major part of postpartum psychosis is related to bipolar disorder. The risk for the development of postpartum attack during the following pregnancies may be increased in women diagnose with bipolar disorder.

With the incidence of about 1 out of every 1000 persons, postpartum psychosis is relative rare. This disease includes the following symptoms: Breaking from reality, suicidal thoughts, intention or attempted harms of the own infant, delusions, hallucinations, mood swings, aggressive behavior, refuse to eat or sleep loss of appetite and sleep. Postpartum psychosis is a psychiatric emergency, Therefore these mothers requires to be hospitalized in favor of their and their baby's safety.

Healing process of postpartum psychosis

The first months after the diagnosis

During healing process of the postpartum psychosis you possibly experience many different feelings. These feelings are: shock, embarrassment, thoughts like ‘Why me?’, anger, exhaustion, fatigue, guilt and anxiety.

To understand what happened

In the first days after the diagnosis and initiation of treatment, mothers can be confused about the child birth and her disease. Many women may not remind the episode between the upset of her disease and decision to seek professional help. They may feel disappointed and sad because of the way they have been taken to hospital and have been treated at the beginning. You may would like to get more information about postpartum psychosis or you may don’t feel ready for getting detailed information. We suggest you to contact mental health professionals for consulting due to previous happenings and further course of the treatment. Moreover you can ask your family or partner about happenings. You can also note your own history in a diary or create your memories on a timeline by using your photos. Even if this doesn’t aesthetically come up to your expectations, it will help you to look back to the first days of your baby. Furthermore you can read the histories of other women and check websites related to postpartum psychosis. Some websites may provide you every detail about postpartum psychosis, so you can assess whether you are ready for that or not.