Maternal Postpartum Depression

Maternal Postpartum Depression Is Avoidable
By James Achanyi-Fontem, Cameroon Link
According to the World Health Organization's website, "Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual's ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide, a tragic fatality associated with the loss of about 850,000 lives every year."
Depression is common, affecting 121 million men, women and children worldwide. Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide and will be the second leading cause of disability globally by 2020. Depression can be reliably diagnosed and treated by health care providers, but fewer than 25 % of those affected have access to effective treatments.
One time that depression may begin is following childbirth, often with severe negative outcomes for mother and child. Recognition and treatment of this problem lead to positive outcomes for both.
The following blog feature aims to raise awareness of the symptoms of maternal postpartum depression, the impact that depression can have on everyday life, the common misconceptions about depression, and the need to treat depression.
It should be noted that depression is only one type of mental disorder. This means that it is important to know how common depression is around you in the community. What are the short-term and long-term effects of depression? What kinds of services exist to treat depression in your area? Try talking to mental health services in your area if they exist or in the capital city of your country for more information about depression and other mental health issues. By sharing this information, you can help to improve the mental health of your neighbours and offer valuable information that radio and television programs may not be providing.
Generally, when a baby cries all the time, the mother becomes stressed up and fails to eat well. She does not sleep either and she is more like confused. The end result is that she become so skinny.
For some mothers this may not be a problem as the feeling goes away after a few days. At the beginning, one would hear a mother complain of not sleeping enough, feeling tired and stressed. A first time mother will often get very angry with the baby because the baby is always crying, instead of finding out what makes the baby to cry.
Sometimes, after a baby is born, a mother feels depressed. She may lose interest and pleasure in life, she may not sleep much or want to eat food, and she may have low energy and poor concentration. These are all symptoms of what is called postpartum depression. Mothers who experience postpartum depression should get help from health workers. This is a serious condition and can become chronic, damaging both the mother's and her children's chances for a healthy, happy life.
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