Hysteria, The New Disease

Or old one. Everything old is new again.

I read this front page article in the New York Times and my head imploded. I have no children, never had any, never had an abortion. Wow that is was in the day when birth control, insurance and medical care was still affordable. WOW those good old days.

The ever increasing hysteria about preventing women from having an abortion need to read this article. I think that was the passive aggressive purpose of it or the other was to push drugs. Pick one. Apparently being a mother means you will either be mentally ill or a murderer.

I was born in a time when my mother worked and my father worked. You know the mystical legendary two parent family. My Nana lived close and well we also had a Nanny and Cleaner. My family was Middle Class. I had more people in my house than a Department Store. I have no idea why my family was so social and in turn we lived in a neighborhood where I knew my neighbors, went to their houses and visited. Funny I spent most of my childhood years with Adults it explains a lot.

But I had them. Again a ton of them. Old, black, single mothers, gays, religious people (I have a thing for all religion) men, women and some kids. I have never really liked my peers. Again, it explains a lot.

But my mother worked and she was 45 when she had me, a definite unplanned pregnancy. But I am alive. I chose not to have children as her sex education consisted of showing me a Phil Donahue show where a woman gave birth on television. That was enough for me to go “I will not be doing that!” I meant having a baby, the sex part came way later as well when I was in College old enough to go to a Doctor with my future sexual partner and force him to listen to the whole birth control speech. Yes I did that. He was a hell of a dude. I will always have some love for him.

So I cannot clearly comment on the entire I want to kill my baby shit that is mentioned in this article. I have had friends who have discussed their roller coaster emotions about birth and all that comes from that time in life. But when you read this you think “wow how did this species survive until the advent of big pharma?”

The studies are of course vague on whom they studied, where and the time frame it occurred. I would love to know the education, income, family and health history and where were these studies held. Only one woman provided a family history and of course it was laden with drama and mental health issues.

This article explains why now I am seeing this rotation of advertising for ‘bi polar depression’ as apparently post partum causes that along with many many other mental disorders. Wow and all treatable thanks to Partumless, the new drug from XYZ company that takes the baby blues out of mom and onto the walls.

We have a serious problem in well getting proper mental health diagnosis let alone treatment. These bullshit MSW, Master of Social Work and Ph.D’s in Psychology that have copies of the bullshit D.S.M on the shelf which is what they use to diagnose and then ladle out the spiel that is utterly useless and unhelpful at best, destructive at worst, until finally the patient gets a Doctor to write a scrip and in turn the patient suddenly feels better over time. And time and drugs allow all wounds to heal. But often the help you actually need versus the help you get are not equitable and appropriate. I am not sure trading frustration and fear for addiction and negative labels is all that helpful. As they used to threaten us in school, “do you want that on your permanent record?”

How about in home care and child minding. Opportunity for mother and baby to disconnect and in turn someone to take on the family responsibilities and allow a break? Wow there is something that might actually be cheaper and better in the long run then drugs. And proper counseling and therapy so women who have had serious mental health “breaks” to find the resources they need to ensure that unwanted pregnancies and in turn post natal issues are addressed for the long term versus the short term.

To diagnose and in turn label a pregnant woman or post partum woman, “mentally ill” what does that mean for the woman, the child and her family in the long run? We already have Tennessee taking children away from mothers who test positive for opioid. Funny that is a major ingredient in many anti anxiety/depression drugs that are prescribed. And what is interesting is that in another ‘study’ they found that most women prescribed said drugs were often low income and more often Medicaid patients. Better stoned that well demanding.

Not to say that it is not serious but once again I wonder the point of this article and in turn what is its intent?

Thinking of Ways to Harm Her’
New Findings on Timing and Range of Maternal Mental Illness
By PAM BELLUCK
JUNE 15, 2014

When her second son was born, six weeks premature, Emily Guillermo recalled thinking, “You’re not supposed to be mine. You were not supposed to be made.”

Postpartum depression isn’t always postpartum. It isn’t even always depression. A fast-growing body of research is changing the very definition of maternal mental illness, showing that it is more common and varied than previously thought.

Scientists say new findings contradict the longstanding view that symptoms begin only within a few weeks after childbirth. In fact, depression often begins during pregnancy, researchers say, and can develop any time in the first year after a baby is born.

Recent studies also show that the range of disorders women face is wider than previously thought. In the year after giving birth, studies suggest, at least one in eight and as many as one in five women develop symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or a combination. In addition, predicting who might develop these illnesses is difficult, scientists say. While studies are revealing clues as to who is most vulnerable, there are often cases that appear to come out of nowhere.

As public awareness has grown, often spiking after a mother kills herself or her baby, a dozen states, including Illinois, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, have passed laws encouraging screening, education and treatment, and New York and others are considering action. The federal Affordable Care Act contains provisions to increase research, diagnosis and care for maternal mental illness.

Sometimes cases are mild, resolving themselves without treatment. But a large analysis of 30 studies estimated that about a fifth of women had an episode of depression in the year after giving birth, about half of them with serious symptoms.

Jeanne Marie Johnson, 35, of Portland, Ore., had a happy pregnancy, but she began having visions right after her daughter, Pearl, was born. She said in an interview that she imagined suffocating her while breast-feeding, throwing her in front of a bus, or “slamming her against a wall.”

She said she was horrified at the idea of hurting her baby, and did not carry out the acts she envisioned. Yet while overlooking a shopping mall skating rink, “I pictured myself leaning over the bridge and letting her fall and bust like a watermelon,” she said. “I was actively thinking of ways to harm her.”

Most women experiencing such “intrusive thoughts,” as experts call them, never hurt their children. Some take extreme measures to protect their babies. One woman “scooched downstairs on her butt for months because she’d imagined throwing her baby downstairs,” said Wendy N. Davis, the executive director of Postpartum Support International.

But studies indicate that maternal stress may undermine women’s ability to bond with or care for their children, and that children’s emotional and cognitive health may suffer as a result.

A complex interplay of genes, stress and hormones causes maternal mental illness, scientists say. “Hormones go up more than a hundredfold,” said Dr. Margaret Spinelli, the director of the Women’s Program in Columbia University’s psychiatry department. After birth, hormones plummet, a roller coaster that can “disrupt brain chemistry,” she said.
Continue reading the main story Some women are genetically predisposed to react intensely to hormone changes. And some are more sensitive to stresses like difficulties with family, finances, childbirth or parenting.

Maternal mental illness is not new. It was recognized as early as the fifth century B.C., when Hippocrates proposed that fluid from the uterus could flow to the head after childbirth and cause delirium. In the Middle Ages, mothers with such symptoms were viewed as witches or victims of witchcraft. In the 1920s, one Freudian-inspired theory attributed these mood disorders to frigidity, suppressed homosexuality or incestuous urges.

Scientific understanding has come a long way and continues to evolve. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the established reference for psychiatric illnesses, first described these symptoms in 1994 as “major depressive disorder” beginning within four weeks of childbirth. The latest manual, published last year, said symptoms often include “severe anxiety and even panic attacks,” and estimated that half of what is considered major postpartum depression actually begins during pregnancy.

Depression in pregnancy can be missed because symptoms like trouble sleeping and moodiness also occur in pregnant women who are not depressed. And doctors have historically been taught in medical school that “women don’t get depressed during pregnancy because they are happy,” said Dr. Katherine L. Wisner, a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics at Northwestern University.

Bethany Winters who had a history of depression, experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her first son. An accident during her pregnancy with her second son triggered the return of her depression.

“I had a friend who said to me after the birth of my first son, ‘Aren’t you just in your own little bubble of happiness?’ and I so clearly remember thinking, ‘No, I’m in hell.’ I’ve never felt so alone in my entire life.” Kelly Barrows has a history of depression. She lost her appetite immediately after her daughter’s birth and a couple of months later began feeling numb and listless.

“I feel like it makes me an inferior mother, and it alienates me from my husband. I feel like it implies I don’t like or love my baby. I don’t feel like I can talk about it with anyone in my life because they don’t know how to help, and I don’t know how they can help, either.” Dayna M. Kurtz experienced postpartum depression immediately after the birth of her son. The experience compelled her to start a new career as a postpartum specialist.
“There are not ample forums that offer a place for candid, nonjudgmental discussion. Regardless of an actual ‘diagnosis,’ the transition to early mothering is one that impacts every woman, in every facet of her life. There needs to be greater access to support on both a micro and macro level.” Peggy O’Neil Nosti experienced extreme anxiety when her third child was 4 months old.

“You know that feeling you have right before you have to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident? I felt like that all day and night. I couldn’t sleep and burned through whatever calories I consumed. It was miserable.” Libby Bruce periodically struggled with anxiety since adolescence. She experienced more anxiety immediately after her daughter was born, and depression took hold four months later.

“The first symptoms were intrusive thoughts — sudden, disturbing visions of my daughter’s little head busting open, or of her falling on a kitchen knife, or worst of all, me hurting her. Slowly, other symptoms began to come up: horrible anxiety about SIDS [Sudden Infant Death Syndrome], deep lows, suicidal thoughts, panic attacks.” Cheney Luttich had postpartum depression that began three months after the birth of her second child.

“The first year of [my child’s] life was very hard for me. I wanted to hurt my baby. I wanted to kill myself to escape my pain. I didn’t feel like myself. I was scared of what I would do because I didn’t recognize myself.” Christine Lee has a history of depression, but felt unprepared to manage postpartum depression.

“When I pushed her into the world and they handed her to me, she felt like someone else’s child. I waited for the gush of joy, and I felt blank.” Catherine Harwell at first was asked by health professionals only if she wanted to hurt herself or her child. She did not feel a pull to do either, yet she knew something was not right. She was diagnosed with postpartum depression six months after giving birth.

“I was almost terrified to be around my baby and felt no connection with her. I did not want to leave my bed, and I felt like I was babysitting a stranger’s child when left alone with my baby.” In a 2013 study, the largest screening of women for postpartum depression to date, Dr. Wisner and colleagues found that 14 percent of 10,000 women had depression four to six weeks after birth, but that for a third of them it actually started during pregnancy.
Other research indicated that symptoms could emerge any time in the first year.

Another 2013 study assessed 461 women at two weeks and six months postpartum, and it found each time that 11 percent had obsessive-compulsive symptoms, about four times the rate for the general population of women. But it was “not the same 11 percent,” said an author, Dr. Dana Gossett, the chief of gynecology and obstetrics at Northwestern. “Half got better by six months and another half developed O.C.D.”

Research also shows that women can have several psychiatric disorders at once. In Dr. Wisner’s study, two-thirds of the women with depression also exhibited anxiety; nearly a quarter had bipolar disorder.

Tina Duepner, 34, of DeSoto, Mo., had symptoms ranging from racing thoughts to suicidal feelings. She said she heard God’s voice from a television, and other voices warning that her son, Landon, would be stolen from her.
She said stress in her life included a previous miscarriage, premature labor requiring bed rest, and a cesarean section.

Ms. Duepner said she was treated successfully, although she required three short psychiatric hospitalizations. She wanted more children, but said doctors advised against it so she had her tubes tied.

Previous depression puts women at greatest risk of maternal mental illness. Having immediate relatives with bipolar disorder also increases vulnerability. Ms. Duepner did not have prior depression. But her mother, Marie Carr, has bipolar disorder, and both maternal grandparents had psychiatric illnesses, Ms. Carr said.

Financial strain, isolation, breast-feeding difficulties or unplanned pregnancy can also increase risk.

Aleisa Schat after both of her sons were born, she experienced extreme dips in mood while breastfeeding.
“I wondered why something as human and elemental as feeding my baby would cause such emotional distress. I thought I was losing my mind. I started dreading feedings, and I had to brace myself for each let down, steering my thoughts from anything specific, anything oriented toward the future.” Natalie Vigil when seven months pregnant, felt an emotional detachment from the child she was carrying. This continued after the birth.

“I did not have a maternal connection with her. It felt as though I gave birth to somebody else’s child. It greatly affected our mother-daughter bonding. It was heartbreaking and scary. ” Sarah Kramer experienced postpartum depression that slowly built up after the birth of her first son.

“I felt like I was moving through the world under a heavy blanket. I didn’t realize I was depressed. I thought it was the lack of sleep.” Kate Palmer experienced postpartum depression that began two weeks after the birth of her son.

“I had three miscarriages, and after four I.V.F. cycles, we were finally pregnant, and I was able to carry a baby to term. It was a stressful and difficult pregnancy, and after my son was born healthy via C-section at 37.3 weeks, the last thing I expected was to experience postpartum depression. ” Kristi Clark after she gave birth, immediately began experiencing severe postpartum anxiety and depression. She has a history of generalized anxiety, which caused depression.

“Although I considered myself educated on PPD [postpartum depression], and knew I was at risk because of previous depressive episodes when I was younger, I really had no idea that severe anxiety was also a possibility. Or obsessive thoughts. Or thoughts of suicide.” K. Miller experienced postpartum depression after terminating a much wanted pregnancy because of a chromosomal abnormality.

“Learning that PPD [postpartum depression] can affect people who have suffered pregnancy loss has been important for my healing. It takes away some of the stigma and invisibility.” Amy Horowitz experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her first child.

“What a cosmic joke, after all the struggle to have a baby. Once I had him, I thought it was a terrible mistake. I wanted to put the baby up for adoption, or get divorced and let my husband raise him. It was just the darkest, most confusing time. ” “It felt very natural to become a mother to him,” she said.

Then, despite using contraception, she conceived again. Overwhelmed, she said that she and her husband agreed to abort but reconsidered after learning she was 20 weeks pregnant. She said she descended into depression during pregnancy, feeling “like my body had been invaded.”

When Benjamin was born, six weeks premature, Ms. Guillermo recalled thinking, “You’re not supposed to be mine. You were not supposed to be made.”

She had loved breast-feeding Christopher, but pumped milk for Benjamin. “I could not stand to have him at my chest,” she said. “I was like a robot. I changed him, I fed him, I burped him. Because I never held him, he started to get a flat head.”

She fantasized about abandoning Benjamin at a fire department, or faking an accident. She imagined driving at high speed into a wall, sparing Christopher’s life by intentionally wrecking the side of the car where Benjamin was strapped into a car seat.

Postpartum disorders can involve more intense visions than mental illnesses unrelated to childbirth, said Dr. Wisner.
Terrified she might hurt Benjamin, Ms. Guillermo said she thought about finding a family to adopt him. One night, “I just blurted out, ‘I don’t love Benjamin.’ ” She said her husband, stunned, assured her they would get her help, and said, “Until then, I will love him enough for both of us.”

Her first medication failed. Once, she forcibly shut Benjamin’s jaw when feeding him. During several baths, “I held the water over his face until he started to flail, he could not breathe,” she said. “I was hearing a voice saying, ‘Do it and he will stop crying. He’s not going to wake Christopher from his nap.’ ”

Something would make her stop and put him in his crib. But for a few seconds, she could not remember “if I had killed him, or if he had drowned, or what I had done,” she said. Benjamin became frightened. “When I’d walk into his room, he’d burst into tears.”

Suicidal, she tried to jump from a car as her husband drove, their sons in back, but she said he stopped her, telling her: “You will love Benjamin. We just need to get you on the right medication.”

The third drug combination she tried worked when Benjamin was 9 months old. She started feeling love toward him, and with Postpartum Support International’s help, worked to improve their relationship.

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She said his development had regressed. Instead of distinct cries for hunger or sleepiness, he reverted to “one hysterical cry because he had grown accustomed to me taking my time to meet his needs.”

Benjamin is now 21 months old, and his development is back on track. “He still has a long way to go with me,” she said. “I’m his mother now, and he knows that, and I think Benny loves me now too.”

As more states pass laws relating to postpartum depression, the hope is to catch problems early. Symptoms are frequently treatable, though finding effective medication or therapy can take time.

Only New Jersey requires screening under a 2006 law championed by Mary Jo Codey, then the state’s first lady, who had had postpartum depression. That mandate has drawn mixed reviews. A study in New Jersey of poor women on Medicaid found that required screening has not resulted in more women being treated. Katy Kozhimannil, a University of Minnesota public health professor and an author of the study, said the law educated pediatricians and obstetricians, but did not compensate them for screening.

There are also not enough treatment options, Dr. Kozhimannil said. “If a woman comes with a baby, and it’s a place treating people with substance abuse or severe mental illness, she may be uncomfortable.”
In New York, State Senator Liz Krueger has introduced a bill to encourage screening and treatment, a proposal that will most likely pass and be approved by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who vetoed a 2013 bill on technical grounds but encouraged the revised legislation.

Jeanne Marie Johnson, in Oregon, may have benefited from state laws encouraging awareness of postpartum mental illness. At her daughter, Pearl’s, two-week pediatric checkup, Ms. Johnson received a questionnaire. Her answers raised red flags and were forwarded to her midwife and a social worker. Ms. Johnson also called a number for a hotline the hospital gave her after a panic attack.

She saw a social worker, but resisted taking medication for months. Afraid to be alone with Pearl, she would insist her mother come over when her husband was out. “I called the doctor hotline constantly,” with nonexistent concerns, “because if I was talking on the phone I wouldn’t do anything harmful.”

She said she felt suicidal and escaped emotionally by drinking wine or gin while taking bubble baths.
Finally, after a nerve-racking emotional explosion, she agreed to take medication. That, combined with a support group and Pearl’s lessening colic, helped.

Until Pearl was 4 months old, “I did love her but I didn’t like her,” Ms. Johnson confessed.

Now, her relationship with 2-year-old Pearl is loving and untroubled, said Ms. Johnson, who sees a therapist, partly to grapple with three recent miscarriages, but no longer takes medication.

“I don’t know if I’ll need it if I have a baby again,” she said. “There are still times at the end of the day where I don’t have energy left. But even at really big stressful times, I haven’t felt panicky feelings or intrusive thoughts. It’s just a whole world of difference.”