Postpartum: Depression, Anxiety, Obsessive compulsive disorder

by Julie Garin

09/19/2023

There are many misconceptions about postpartum depression and other perinatal mood disorders. Many believe if you're "Postpartum" that means you're depressed, but postpartum refers to the period after pregnancy! Postpartum is forever!

However, perinatal mood disorders affect 1 in 5 women or birthing people. If you're expecting a baby, it's important to know about them.

Here are some simple definitions:

Postpartum Depression or PPD: A type of clinical depression that occurs in individuals after childbirth. Both parents can be affected, although the condition occurs more frequently in mothers than fathers. It may be misdiagnosed as the baby blues at first, but the symptoms are more severe, last much longer and can occur well past the first few weeks postpartum.

Postpartum Anxiety or PPA: Anxiety is an adaptive response that we feel when we feel unsafe or threatened. This feeling can occur in women after giving birth. Symptoms include: increased heart rate, feeling of impending doom, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, tightness in chest, ruminating thoughts, excessive worry, difficulty sleeping, inability to shut brain off, over-protective behaviour and hyper-vigilance around danger.

Postpartum OCD: OCD is defined by recurrent obsessions (repetitive thoughts, ideas, mental images) and/or compulsions (repetitive behaviors the individual is compelled to perform in order to ease the anxiety created by the obsession). In postpartum OCD, unwanted, intrusive thoughts usually are associated with the baby, and compulsive behavior is also directed towards the child (e.g. avoiding feeding the child for fear of poisoning; throwing out objects that could harm the child).