Postpartum psychosis

[Jessbp98]

Trigger warning -post partum psychosis

Hi all . I’m not really sure what I’m wanting from this post but here goes.I have had Depression and generalised anxiety disorder since a child .As a teen I was on antidepressants and had CBT .I am now back on antidepressants after an 8 year gap .
I already have a 4 almost 5 year old little boy .Myself and my husband have decided to try for a second baby which I’m so happy about yet so extremely anxious.since deciding to try for a second I have developed a really intense fear of postpartum psychosis,being sectioned under the mental health act and put in a mental ward /mother and baby unit .Honestly I don’t why this fear has developed but I know my anxiety is making me catastrophise and over think it .any way My Gp and a friend who is a midwife told me roughly 1 in every 1000 mums experience post partum psychosis ,that anxiety and depression do NOT increase the chances of a mum having this and that it’s incredibly unlikely I’ll get it ,I also never had it when I had my son 4 years ago. .Despite the reassurance and previous pregnancy I can’t get the fear of post partum psychosis ,being sectioned ,being in a mental health ward or mum and baby unit out of my head .Like I said previously the anxiety is likely making me over think ,catastrophise and get stressed about something that probably won’t happen .I really don’t want people to be triggered by this or find it stigmatising but needed to get this off my chest .any experience,reassurance or advice welcome .

You've already had pretty good professional reassurance from both a GP and a midwife so I'm not sure there's anything anyone here can say that would ease your fears unfortunately. I also had this fear whilst pregnant as I have severe anxiety and worried that I would develop worse mental health after I gave birth but it never happened. Unfortunately with these types of fears they're irrational and the only thing I can think of that you can do is maybe ask for some more CBT in order to refresh your mind with the thought challenge method.

I also had this fear during both of my pregnancies. I was so convinced I would develop it as I've always had ocd/anxiety. I did speak to a councillor as I was really working myself up about it and she told me not to fight the thought. Think about worst case scenario, you end up on a mother and baby ward, you are treated and you recover and return home with your little baby. I found it really helped to sit with the thought rather than keep trying to push it away. My brother had an episode of psychosis after his drink was spiked and he was hospitalised and I couldn't believe how quickly they helped him recover, he was in and out of hospital so fast and that made my anxieties better knowing even if worst case happens you will recover xx

I’m a mental health nurse working for a perinatal mental health team, even working for this team we don’t see postpartum psychosis often. You don’t have any of the risk factors for developing postpartum psychosis (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or a previous psychosis are the main risk factors) and even then with the right support, medications and care plans people with these risk factors can remain well after having baby. I would say if your anxiety is increasing during the pregnancy ask for a referral to your local perinatal mental health team or self refer to talking therapies for CBT xx

Hi. I have type 1 bipolar and that gave me a 1 in 2 chance of severe pnd and/or post partum pyschosis

Unfortunately for me I did get both. What I didn't get was sectioned or taken away from my baby.

My symptoms started around 3 weeks. Around 10 weeks the psychosis was quite apparent. I was offered a bed in the mother and baby unit but I decided to try to stay at home with support. I had 6 weekly appointments with a psychiatrist, I saw a cpn in person every other week and in the other week I had a phone or video call with her and a visit from my HV. There was one week when my partner was asked to work from home so he could be around as I had some thoughts my daughter was evil but these were short lived. Most of my psychosis was around my daughter not being real or not being mine. Despite the thoughts I edge my bets and cared for this baby that wasn't real so interventions didn't occur.

I had a baby massage course through my HV, an online (due to covid) CFT group therapy course arranged through the perinatal team and therapy with the infant parenting service. Unfortunately for me this didn't help and I was diagnosed with treatment resistant depression and pyschosis at 9 months and it was then that I went into a mother and baby unit. Up until this point I had been able to breastfeed on medication. I started lithium and my daughter went on to formula. Once the lithium was at a therapeutic level the psychosis went but the depression took a bit longer. I spent 10 weeks in a mother and baby unit and when I was discharged I continued the parenting therapy until I moved when my daughter was 2. I was broadly back to normal by then.

It was a long journey but my depressions have been hard to treat before. This was my first admission into hospital. It was difficult but I have the most amazing preschooler now. I probably should have accepted the admission when she was 10 weeks old in hindsight but isn't that a wonderful thing. Throughout my journey the priority was always me, my daughter and our relationship. I had great support in the community and in hospital.

It has taken some time to process those two years, they were over the pandemic and there was other family stuff going on that made it a perfect storm for me to experience another mental health episode. I have recently had counselling with my HV partially to discuss my experience of mental health during the the first year but also my daughters poor health too as she had severe silent reflux and a lot of food allergies. We now feel ready to ttc again. There's a high risk it can happen again but we are going into it with our eyes open and I will have support.

I hope that my experiences offer some reassurance that even with severe mental health episodes it doesn't mean your experiences will be beyond your control. Do keep talking about others and listen to their reassurances when the intrusive thoughts are raging.

I don't know if this will help at all, but I had weekly visits to a Mother and baby residential unit when I was receiving treatment for post natal depression. A lot of the mothers who were staying there had the more severe mental health issues like psychosis. It was a lovely place, warm and welcoming with kind staff who were friendly and genuinely cared about the women and the babies in their care. The centre was more like a big family house than a facility.

The feeling was one of warmth, care and getting better, and I remember thinking that the mothers and babies couldn't have been in better hands.

I suppose I wanted to say that this idea of being sectioned in a facility is quite different to the reality of having residential care. You will most probably never need it, OP!

Please work closely with your midwife to make sure you get the care that you need, should you be feeling low at any point before/during/after your pregnancy.

Fear of madness is a classic of the anxiety cabaret. 💐 . Unpleasant, sympathies.

If you didn’t get ppp the first time, it’s vanishingly unlikely you’ll get it the second time, not even sure that can happen.

You haven’t got any risk factors.