Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, and OCD:  Signs and Symptoms

“The Symptoms of Postpartum Depression & Anxiety (in Plain Mama English)” from Postpartum Progress, explains that it is important to understand the signs and symptoms in easy to understand wording.  Postpartum Progress indicates that there is a difference between postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety.  Here, we recognize that everyone is different, but the below list of signs and symptoms may be used as a guideline.  Many new moms feel like they have some of these symptoms every once in awhile.  Being a new mom is challenging, so this is common.  However, Postpartum depression and anxiety are not  just bad days.  A diagnosis of Postpartum depression  or anxiety requires that  symptoms persist for a period of at least 2 weeks or longer.  In addition, it is also common to have a combination of postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety co-occurring.

Postpartum Depression

You may have postpartum depression if you have had a baby within the last 12 months and are experiencing some of these symptoms:

• You feel overwhelmed.  Not like “hey, this new mom thing is hard.”  More like “I can’t do this and I’m never going to be able to do this.”  You feel like you just can’t handle being a mother.  In fact, you may be wondering whether you should have become a mother in the first place.
• You feel guilty because you believe you should be handling new motherhood better than this.  You feel like your baby deserves better.  You worry whether your baby can tell that you feel so bad, or that you are crying so much, or that you don’t feel the happiness or connection that you thought you would.  You may wonder whether your baby would be better off without you.
• You don’t feel bonded to your baby.  You’re not having that mythical mommy bliss that you see on TV or read about in magazines. Not everyone with PPD feels this way, but many do.
• You can’t understand why this is happening.  You are very confused and scared.
• You feel irritated or angry. You have no patience. Everything annoys you.  You feel resentment toward your baby, or your partner, or your friends who don’t have babies. You feel out-of-control rage.
• You feel nothing. Emptiness and numbness. You are just going through the motions.
• You feel sadness to the depths of your soul. You can’t stop crying, even when there’s no real reason to be crying.
• You feel hopeless, like this situation will never ever get better. You feel weak and defective, like a failure.
• You can’t bring yourself to eat, or perhaps the only thing that makes you feel better is eating.
• You can’t sleep when the baby sleeps, nor can you sleep at any other time. Or maybe you can fall asleep, but you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep no matter how tired you are.  Or maybe all you can do is sleep and you can’t seem to stay awake to get the most basic things done.  Whichever it is, your sleeping is completely screwed up and it’s not just because you have a newborn.
• You can’t concentrate. You can’t focus. You can’t think of the words you want to say. You can’t remember what you were supposed to do. You can’t make a decision. You feel like you’re in a fog.
• You feel disconnected. You feel strangely apart from everyone for some reason, like there’s an invisible wall between you and the rest of the world.
• Maybe you’re doing everything right. You are exercising. You are taking your vitamins. You have a healthy spirituality.  You do yoga. You’re thinking “Why can’t I just get over this?”  You feel like you should be able to snap out of it, but you can’t.
• You might be having thoughts of running away and leaving your family behind. Or you’ve thought of driving off the road, or taking too many pills, or finding some other way to end this misery.
• You know something is wrong. You may not know you have a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder, but you know the way you are feeling is NOT right. You think you’ve “gone crazy”.
• You are afraid that this is your new reality and that you’ve lost the “old you” forever.
• You are afraid that if you reach out for help people will judge you. Or that your baby will be taken away.
  

Postpartum Anxiety & Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

You may have postpartum anxiety or postpartum OCD if you have had a baby within the last 12 months and are experiencing some of these symptoms:

• Your thoughts are racing. You can’t quiet your mind. You can’t settle down. You can’t relax.
• You feel like you have to be doing something at all times. Cleaning bottles. Cleaning baby clothes. Cleaning the house. Doing work. Entertaining the baby. Checking on the baby.
• You are worried. Really worried.  All. The. Time.  Am I doing this right?  Will my husband come home from his trip?  Will the baby wake up? Is the baby eating enough? Is there something wrong with my baby that I’m missing? No matter what anyone says to reassure you it doesn’t help.
• You may be having disturbing thoughts.  Thoughts that you’ve never had before.  Scary thoughts that make you wonder whether you aren’t the person you thought you were.  They fly into your head unwanted and you know they aren’t right, that this isn’t the real you, but they terrify you and they won’t go away.  These thoughts may start with the words “What if …”
• You are afraid to be alone with your baby because of scary thoughts or worries.  You are also afraid of things in your house that could potentially cause harm, like kitchen knives or stairs, and you avoid them like the plague.
• You may feel the need to check things constantly. Did I lock the door?  Did I lock the car? Did I turn off the oven? Is the baby breathing?
• Physical symptoms like stomach cramps or headaches, shakiness or nausea.  You might even have panic attacks.
• You feel like a captive animal, pacing back and forth in a cage. Restless.  On edge.
• You can’t eat.  You have no appetite.
• You’re having trouble sleeping.  You are so, so tired, but you can’t sleep.
• You feel a sense of dread, like something terrible is going to happen.
• You know something is wrong.  You may not know you have a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder, but you know the way you are feeling is NOT right. You think you’ve “gone crazy”.
• You are afraid that this is your new reality and that you’ve lost the “old you” forever.
• You are afraid that if you reach out for help people will judge you.  Or that your baby will be taken away.
  

If you have had a baby in the last year and have been experiencing any of these symptoms for 2 weeks in duration or longer, that you seek professional assistance.  You can speak to a OBGYN, your primary care doctor, a licensed psychiatrist or a licensed clinician.  There are also support groups and fee assistance through the local hospitals. 

- Kim B.

Insightful Comments:

My wife and I have three children. There are five years and ten months that encompass the entire time-lapse from our oldest child to our youngest child, and I recall struggles of varying degrees with the pregnancy and birth of all three of our children.

Our first child was seven weeks premature and life was literally touch and go for several days. Then, not totally out of the woods, our baby girl spent the first month in the neo-natal intensive care unit until she was strong enough to come home. Even then we lived on pins and needles for a while until we felt secure for her. My wife was very focused, rightfully so, on our newborn and her wellbeing and I don’t believe that she even thought for one second about herself.

With our second child, our big boy, my wife faced gestational diabetes and all of the testing and monitoring that comes with that diagnosis. My wife was induced for delivery of our son because of his very rapid growth toward the end of her pregnancy. They had referred to him as a ‘sugar-baby’ because of gestational diabetes. My wife had chocolate cake, immediately following the delivery as promised by the doctor, as a reward and celebration. Happy to have the delivery and gestational diabetes behind her, my wife set her sights on caring for our two babies.

As our third child arrived, my wife faced blood pressure issues that caused severe swelling and discomfort for her. Our baby was as snug as expected, but the issues physically challenged my wife. The doctor again induced her at an earlier stage in her pregnancy for her safety and wellbeing and that of baby girl number two. The delivery was a breeze and success as deliveries go, and my wife was a true champion in that department.

It was a few weeks after the delivery of our third child that I noticed there was something different about my wife and her demeanor. She could barely stand to take care of the children and even less for herself. I had returned to work because I no more leave time to take and we had to have an income to survive.   


Although she was never formally diagnosed as having postpartum depression, she has stated many times in the subsequent decade that she feels that was exactly her problem. She had not taken the time to heal or decompress emotionally and mentally from our first two children and now had baby number three.  About a year following the birth of our second child she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and navigated the minefield that is cancer treatment. Almost as soon as the doctor gave her the all clear we decided to have our third child.

She had unintentionally created a tremendous amount of stress on her heart and mind, emotionally and mentally. It was little wonder from our hindsight perspective that she had succumbed to post-partum depression. Without putting many things to rest before picking up the next baton in the relay race of life, she had unknowingly made life more difficult.

- Bergen

The Symptoms of Postpartum Depression & Anxiety (in Plain Mama English). (n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2014, from http://www.postpartumprogress.com/the-symptoms-of-postpartum-depression-anxiety-in-plain-mama-english