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The Ruth Rhoden Craven Foundation for Postpartum Depression Awareness
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2008 Walk/Run Results |
The 7th annual Ruth Rhoden Craven
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| Symptoms are mild and usually go away within 2 weeks. | |||||||||||||
Symptoms include:
|
Depression and/or Anxiety
| Excessive
worry or anxiety | |
| Irritability
or short temper | |
| Feeling
overwhelmed, difficulty making decisions | |
| Sad
mood, feelings of guilt, phobias | |
| Hopelessness | |
| Sleep
problems (often the woman cannot sleep or sleeps too much), fatigue | |
| Physical
symptoms or complaints without apparent physical cause | |
| Discomfort
around the baby or a lack of feeling toward the baby | |
| Loss
of focus and concentration (may miss appointments, for example) | |
| Loss
of interest or pleasure, lower sex drive | |
| Changes
in appetite; significant weight loss or gain | |
| Suicidal thoughts |
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
| Intrusive,
repetitive, and persistent thoughts or mental pictures | |
| Thoughts often are about hurting or killing the baby not to be confused with psychotic thoughts | |
| Tremendous
sense of horror and disgust about these thoughts (ego-alien) | |
| Thoughts
may be accompanied by behaviors to reduce the anxiety (for example, hiding
knives) | |
| Counting,
checking, cleaning or other repetitive behaviors | |
| Suicidal thoughts |
| Episodes
of extreme anxiety | |
| Shortness
of breath, chest pain, sensations of choking or smothering, dizziness | |
| Hot
or cold flashes, trembling, rapid heart beat, numbness or tingling
sensations | |
| Restlessness,
agitation, or irritability | |
| During
attack the woman may fear she is going crazy, dying or losing control | |
| Panic
attack may wake her up | |
| Often
no identifiable trigger for panic | |
| Excessive
worry or fears (including fear of more panic attacks) |
Psychosis
| Visual
or auditory hallucinations [not the same as intrusive thoughts] | |
| Delusional
thinking (for example, about infant’s death, denial of birth, or need to
kill baby) | |
| Delirium
and/or mania | |
| Suicidal thoughts |
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
| Recurrent
nightmares | |
| Extreme
anxiety | |
| Reliving
past traumatic events (for example, sexual, physical, emotional, and
childbirth) |
Used with permission from “Beyond the Blues” (2006 issue) by Shoshana S. Bennett, Ph.D. and Pec Indman, Ed.D., MFT published by Moodswings Press.