they say post-natal depression goes away

[wmf]

they say post-natal depression goes away within about two years. mine has certainly got a lot better (ds is 18 months), but i don't feel 'normal'. have i reached a plateau? will i feel like i used to, or will i always feel vulnerable to depression? the way i feel makes me think of recovered addicts who will always consider themselves as, say, alcoholics, even if they never touch another drop of alcohol in their lives.

Hi wmf, I had pnd too. When you say you don't feel 'normal' do you mean that you don't feel the same as you did before you had ds or do you still have symptoms of depression?

The reason I ask is because I kept waiting to feel the same as I did before I had ds and it never happened. What I mean is that, IMO, after children you are never the same person that you were before children. Your priorities and feelings change and life is never the same again. But I mean that in a good way and I finally realised and accepted that my ds had changed me and my outlook irrevokably and that it was Ok. Different, but OK. And that I would never be the same person I was. Once I accepted that it felt easier.

Maybe I'm way off here? I don't think the medical view is that if you've had pnd you are always vulnerable to depression in general since pnd is specific and related to childbirth. (But someone else may know different)

Anyway, it's good that you feel better than you did. HTH