Postpartum Anxiety and Mood Disorders

Do you need help with emotional problems after delivering a baby? Trinity Psychiatric Health in Lake Mary, Florida, offers monitoring and management of postpartum anxiety and mood disorders.

Postpartum anxiety and mood disorders cover several different conditions related to pregnancy and birth. While these are all grouped into the same category, the symptoms are different.

• Postpartum depression (PPD), postpartum blues, or baby blues

• Postpartum anxiety (panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or generalized anxiety)

• Postpartum Psychosis

Postpartum depression can bring uncontrolled crying, lack of focus, anxiety, and irritability and occurs in approximately 10% of all deliveries.

Postpartum anxiety is as common as postpartum depression and typically are associated with depression. Panic attacks, lack of sleep, frightening thoughts, and hyperventilation plague women after and even during pregnancy (perinatal anxiety).

Postpartum psychosis is the most intense form of postpartum depression and can be life-threatening. Hallucinations, delusions, and the inability to keep thoughts organized cause a postpartum patient to actually experience bipolar disorder with psychotic features. At this stage, it is imperative for women to receive immediate treatment. This disorder occurs in an estimated 1 to 2 women in 1000 who have given birth.

These postpartum conditions are driven by heightened hormonal changes, so women who are most sensitive to their hormone levels tend to develop problems with the ability to control their moods.

If you need help managing your moods surrounding the birth of a child, call 407-324-0484 to make an immediate appointment. We can help you.