to think that the concept of post natal depression is overused?

[moondog]

HOW COME WOMEN HAVE TO HAVE A LABEL (sorry) for so many things?

PMS
AND
PND
Menopausal
OCD
Passive/Aggressive

It seems that the concept of being low/cross/nasty/bitchy/tired/worn out is positively old fashined.

Cos you are stuck in the 50's where any issues women had had to be about their personalities rather than real issues.

Eh?
How does this follow if we consider PND to be psychological state rather than something brought about by external forces?

Because PND is - for the vast majority - something much more serious than being low/cross/nasty/bitchy/tired et.

Yes, for some women it is a (sometime shelpful, sometimes unhelpful) label for a period of adjustment...adjustment to an alien new lifestyle of sleep deprivation and self sacrifice. However, for many women it is an illness that requires therapy and/or medication.

Psychological states can be brought about by external forces. You're already out of your depth.

I think we do tend to medicalise sadness. And that anger is very under acknowledged in women.

But hormones do affect mood and wellness.

Aye Skeggie, with you there.
The issue of pathologising states which are part and parcel of human condition.

Endemic across the sexes and age groups of course, not just with child bearing women.

People love labels and diagnoses.

your post is prejudiced.

ie, you prejudge things you know nothing about. Therefore you are uniquely unqualified to have an opinion.

All those things exist as medical conditions. You might think they are imaginary nonsense, but you are not part of the established medical community, therefore your opinion counts for nought.

But those are (mostly - have never really grasped this P/A thing) real conditions - not examples of the pseudo-science bollocks that you do see brandished about too readily.

Yes, of course you can be low/cross/nasty/bitchy/tired/worn out without having PND etc, but I don't think most people would rather have the label when there's no need. Some people, maybe. The apparent increase is just better diagnosis than in our mothers' days.

Oh I'm not saying it doesn't exist, on the contrary.
But is the apparent increase better diagnosis or the pathologisation of something more mundane I wonder?

I think the point is not so much that they exist as medical conditions, but that it's no longer possible to just be down/fed up/annoyed - you have to attribute a label to the feeling.

So while many women do genuinely suffer from pnd/depression/symptoms of menopause, equally, many women may just be having a shite day/week/month/be going through a hard time which in turn affects their state of mind at that moment. But instead of saying that, there's an expectation that you must be suffering from a condition, iyswim?

well I had PND (undiagnosed as I thought it was just "low") after DS1 - and it fucked me up good and proper.

And external factors can lead to proper depression as well.

hOW DID YUO KNOW THEN AT PRESUMABLY LATER STAGE THAT YOU HAD pnd?

Moondog, you clearly have no sympathy at all for people who suffer real, debilitating conditions.

You might dislike the idea of people claiming to have PND etc , and to think that if only they pulled their socks up they would be fine, but really, what is it to you if they do or don't?

And yes, while there is a difference between sadness and depression, that is no reason to suppose that all claiming depression or PND are actually just sad and should deal with it.

Those conditions are very different. We all get sad throughout life for various reasons, we do not all get depression throughout life....depression and PMS are very different beasts to normal sadness.

"hOW DID YUO KNOW THEN AT PRESUMABLY LATER STAGE THAT YOU HAD pnd?"

Presumably she was diagnosed by a medical profession, like you aren't.

yea well in the past anyone suffering from any form of mental health issue was deemed to be mad and locked up in an asylum......so I'd say more diagnosis can only be a good thing.

*professional

Because, amazingly enough, MD, people do tend just to struggle through, and until they come out the otherside, do not realise just how bad things were for them.

Not normal, sleep deprived stuff, but real, awful lack of pleasure, smell, taste, joy, happiness, suicidal thoughts etc etc....

It's a good thing my psychiatrist didn't just tell me to buck up, that I was just low/tired/worn out/bitchy/cross.

What a ridiculous, misogynistic post.

I do see your point. I wondered, and in fact was asked, whether I was depressed after the very sudden death of my father. Maybe I was. But I think in hindsight I was just overwhelmed and well, grieving in quite a natural way which 20 years ago would have just been taken at face value.

The thing is that it's really easy to be diagnosed with depression and be described anti deprescents when actually you might just be going through a hard time.

.g. I recently went to the gp because I was suffering severe tiredness, having cold flushes etc. She asked if I was going through a hard time, and I said no, but then did say that had had to have dog pts in december, and that second guide dog has had to be retired early, and she promptly pulled out a questionnaire all about my state of mind and questioning whether I felt like killing myself on a regular basis.

I am fairly sure I could easily have been diagnosed with depression and been given tablets, and then I would be yet another statistic, when actually, I've just had a rough few months and just need to pull through it.

because after battling with PND and depression for several years I finally accepted that I was more than "down" or "low" and went to get some help when DS2 was just over a year old (and again when DS3 was just over a year as well).

Looking back now (and with the added experience of living with someone else who had very severe depression) I can tell when I was "low" and when depression had reared it's fucking ugly head.

I still have many periods of being "low" (right now I'm just blardy stressed) - but have also learned to recognise the signs of when I'm slipping again properly and get the help before I get to where I was 2yrs ago - lying in a hospital bed hooked up to a drip for 2 days..........

Moondog hasn't dismissed these conditions as not being real or valid.

GPs are looking out for the big picture, it might not apply to you, but at least they are looking, unlike the past.

And frequently people who are severely depressed don't actually realise it, because utter misery is so normalised for them.

ahhh yes WannaBe - 3 weeks before I ended up in hospital I went to the GP - was asked the questions and told "yeah possibly depression more likely just just due to current circumstances".....

XH was also told the same thing around this time last year when I first managed to persuade him to go to the GP's - shame he ended up on a psych ward for 3 weeks later in the year hey - because of course he was "just going through a hard time".

What is the point of this thread? That someone, somewhere, lost their leg while giving birth in a minefield, and then lost both parents to cancer while seeing their PFB shot, but that person didn't have depression. So anyone who does have depression is making it up?

Well done all of you for not having mental health problems.

Let me give you a round of applause for being so great.