...to think that my (childless) therapist can't understand my PND as well as someone with kids would?

[MamaLazarou]

Sorry - very clumsily put, but I can't think of another way to say it.

I'm 6 weeks in to a course of psychotherapy for prolonged Post-Natal Depression and have discovered that my therapist has never had kids.

I had felt that she lacks empathy with the trauma and relentlessness of childbirth and early parenthood. When I told her that we had had no visitors or support of any kind in the first months of my son's life, she told me that most people experienced the same and that she didn't know anyone who had been looked after in any way by friends or family when they had newborns.

This is just one of many causes of my (possibly clinical) depression but I find it frustrating that she has an (IMO) unrealistic impression of what life with a newborn is like.

She is in all other ways a very good therapist and I do realise that it's a bit late to change now.

I was thinking of discussing it in our next session. AIBU?

Well, one of the causes of PND is isolation and the lack of support. So if she doesn't understand that, then she does have something of a problem. The combination of a lack of sleep, loneliness, lack of support etc all add up as factors that would contribute to making you feel depressed. To be honest, I'm just surprised that not everyone gets PND.

I disagree beyond . Feeling down for an extended period of time is classified as depression. So perhaps having support didnt make a difference to you but presuming its not a factor for others is helpful either.

Sorry, I dont mean to belittle the experiences of anyone who suffered because of lack of support, (which is kind of how that came across ) I just think that its something that wouldnt have helped your depression, rather than something that directly caused it, IYSWIM?
And I dont think it helps the many many people who have no idea about mental illness to say "you are depressed because you have noone to help out", I feel that minimises it and makes it sound like someone who is just weak.

Well, this is what the NHS page (www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Postnataldepression/Pages/Causes.aspx) says about the causes of PND:

The cause of postnatal depression is not completely clear. Most experts think postnatal depression is the result of a combination of things.
These may include:
depression during pregnancy
a difficult delivery
lack of support at home
relationship worries
money problems
having no close family or friends around you
physical health problems following the birth, such as urinary incontinence (loss of bladder control), or persistent pain from an episiotomy scar or a forceps delivery

So lack of support and having no close family or friends around are recognised causes of PND. It's not belittling anyone to say that their depression may result in part from a lack of support.