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Postpartum Stress: A Case Study

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Elated one minute, depressed the next is one common scenario observable in mothers who recently delivered a baby. Women manifest mood swings or “baby blues” in the few days after childbirth. It is an identified psychological postpartum complication in new mothers. According to BC Reproductive Mental Health Program (2011), eighty percent (80 %) of women report to be experiencing postpartum blues within 3-5 days after giving birth. During this time frame, rapid mood swings, feeling of helplessness, disturbed sleep pattern or difficulty to sleep, and crying for no reason are common signs which are considered normal on women having the postpartum blues. This is a transient phenomenon which self-resolves within 10-14 days with no medical intervention required (Rai, S., Pathak, A., & Sharma, I., 2015). Although its etiology remains unidentified to date, biochemical, psychological, social and, cultural factors are not excluded as contributors to this condition. …show more content…

It is defined as baby blues lasting longer than two weeks or could even manifest weeks or months after childbirth (BC Reproductive Mental Health Program, 2011). Ten to eleven percent of postpartum women develop a more serious condition of either depression or anxiety or both (MGH Center for Women’s Mental Health, 2015). This is considered as a mental health issue which could include other conditions like postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and psychosis according to Howard, L. M., Molyneaux, E., Dennis, C., Rochat, T., Stein, A., & Milgrom, J.

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