Anyone watching Louis Theroux right now ?

[AnyFucker]

Focussing on a mother and baby unit for mums with MH difficulties

Crying here and Louis is just lovely

Thank you everyone who had shared their own story.

Just watched this and it made feel a bit anxious as I recognised myself a bit in the women.I had pnd after ds and could relate a lot to what they were saying.

I thought it was so well done, and Louis is amazing. I felt so bad for the mum of 3 - she looked so exhausted.

You can tell Louis is a good egg because all of the babies liked him and were drawn to him, opening their arms for him and relaxing with him.
All off the babies looked really healthy and happy.
I found this really hard to watch,cried through most of it.
I had depression when I was pregnant, to the point of seriously thinking of ways of killing myself without making a mess or my mum having to find me. I was very ill but never told anyone.
After ds was born I felt much better, not depressed but still did have some suicide ideation until he was about 2yo, not seriously thinking of doing it, more like flashes if that makes sense.
I think I'm lucky I was mostly OK once he was born, especially after quite a traumatic birth and long labour.
I wouldn't say I got a rush of love but I felt like I knew him and knew I loved him. But it wasn't a rush, emergency c section probably didn't help.
I think it's important to remember not all births are magical and love doesn't always come in a rush, having a new born is hard work. It's no wonder the reality doesn't live up to the glossy expectation a lot of the time.
My son is amazing and my ill health doesn't seem to have affected him at all. I was anxious the stress and bad thoughts would somehow poison him and make him an ill or anxious baby but he's been a dream.

Just watched. It's amazing that the women agreed to be filmed. So brave.

Thank God for units like this.

I think it's important for shows like this to highlight maternal mental health but not sure why Louis was invited by the staff to give his opinion in ward rounds and counselling sessions when he is not a trained health professional. I found that frankly bizarre.

Also wonder whether it was wise to continue filming certain scenes, for example when the Spanish lady said she was uncomfortable and tried to get up and leave but Louis continued to talk about her to her husband.

Way too intrusive IMO, I felt really uncomfortable watching it, I understand how sensitive the subject is and think units like this are invaluable, there should be many more, but going against popular opinion here it didn’t sit right with me how L Theroux handled this, when the mum of 3 was in kitchen and her 6 year old daughter came in and stayed to listen LT said something about not carrying on the conversation while daughter was there - and just carried on, I don’t think the children should have been exposed to that, they had no choice as to whether to be on camera or not. The treatment units are so important but they are a place for helping, not TV cameras, all felt wrong to me

And it’s now available for ever. How will those babies feel seeing it when they’re at school?

Agree with the three pps. I found it very invasive. I thought LT was very dismissive of Barbara the lady from Spain who was suffering from psychosis. I’m hoping it was just editing as I generally love Louis but it made me uncomfortable. He kept speaking even though she was sat listening to them talking about her. I wondered too about the babies when they grow up watching their parent talking about not loving them

She will have given permission when she was well for it to be included. I'd happily allow footage of me unwell, in order to show others what it is like, help other women not feel alone etc.

My ds knew why I was in the unit and we still talk about it sometimes. I'm not ashamed of it. I was unwell. It's no more intrusive than One Born Every Minute or Ambulance or Hospital.

Mental Health isn't a "special" secret thing that needs protecting behind closed doors. That's what leads it the problems. We need to see what depression, anxiety, ocd, psychosis etc look like, feel like. Show that these are not shameful.

There were certain parts of the programme which made me feel very uncomfortable,actually the thought of the cameras being there at all would've made me beyond anxious. General filming round the unit - great, people talking about their experiences ( once they're better) fantastic,actually filming someone while they are in the midst of of a psychotic episode? I don't care if she gave her consent afterwards , I judge the staff who allowed it and yes,Louis, as dishy as he is was pushy.

We have never told ds about my PND/ stay in the unit even now he's older, I would never want him to think it was 'his fault' and he wasn't loved every second he's been on this earth and he WAS loved,I just didn't recognise those feelings.

After a quick Google it seems the Duchess of Cambridge visited the unit last year- bloody hell,I can't imagine anything worse than her rocking up in all her finery when you are feeling at your worst

I had to have an early night last night,watching the programme has rattled me a bit tbh. Very odd seeing it again,I almost wish I hadn't watched it.

The treatment units are so important but they are a place for helping, not TV cameras, all felt wrong to me

This,with bells on !

I am curious to watch it but scared as well. I had the most awful pnd after dd was born 16 years ago. I was put on a strength of citalopram they don’t even prescribe anymore. I should have been hospitalised really but there were no beds and I just muddled through. I had a really traumatic birth (60 hour labour, failed ventouse, huge episiotomy etc) and was in a very unsupportive relationship. I came home from the hospital with dd and was just expected to get on with it and I just couldn’t. I had no bond with dd at all and a particularly low point I genuinely wanted to kill myself. I then decided I wouldn’t do that but I didn’t want to be around dd either so I let my mum take over really and went back to work full time when dd was 3 months old. Gradually things improved and I weaned myself off antidepressants by the time dd was 2. I left my unsupportive dh when dd was 6 months old and that was a big turning point for me.

16 years on dd and I have a wonderful relationship and I feel sad about how things were at the beginning. I now have another child - aged 6 - and bonded with him immediately and had a completely different experience (I had an elective section with him). I think in my story birth trauma and bad relationships certainly played a part in the decline in my mental health.

I will give it a watch later I think.

@BethlamBabe

Would you tell him if you'd had a physical birth injury? If you'd broken your leg just afterwards? Surely there are ways of talking about your mental health without making them feel to blame?

My ds was 3 when dd was born so he came to visit us in the unit, we had to tell him something, how would you suggest we hid it from him?

Why is mental health seen as different and intrusive? Because there is stigma and shame around it. Louis and his team worked for a long time with the unit and the perinatal mental health foundation and other charities that work with women with postnatal mh problems.

How else do we show people what psychosis looks like or feels like? I thought it captured perfectly the complete break with reality and the confusion. Often people assume psychosis is shouting, ranting, raving, threatening to hurt people, schizophrenics stabbing people. but most of the time it isn't.

I probably will tell ds at some point but I don't think it would have served any purpose so far. I tell very few people,I am extremely selective about who I share my experience with, I had to completely rebuild my life when I came home as some friends would crossed the street rather than say hello. This was a long time ago, hopefully things are on the turn but back then even the midwives in the hospital knew nothing about PND,it was shocking.

It's all very well saying there shouldn't be stigma but it's a whole different thing actually living it ime.

How else do we show people what psychosis looks like or feels like? Ways that don't include filming someone when they are very ill/sectioned. Interviews when they are better, doctors talking explaining.

**talking and explaining

When I was at the unit at the Bethlam there were two 'parenting assessment' places for people who were assessed constantly to see if they were able to look after and keep their babies before being put up for adoption,it was the last thing before going to court and a judgement being made. I really hope that has stopped now because I know that really unsettled a lot of patients as we thought our babies might be taken away if we didn't get better quick enough.

My ds was 3 when dd was born so he came to visit us in the unit, we had to tell him something, how would you suggest we hid it from him?

I wouldn't suggest you hid anything but that wasn't my situation so I didn't have a visiting child

** I wouldn't have suggested you hide anything

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/12/mothers-on-the-edge-review-louis-theroux-more-perturbed-than-ever-before?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium=&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1557695362

saw this online this morning

Lucy Mangan has it spot on in that review - and why I struggled with the programme - despite being a huge fan of his other work.
More than once (Louis) tried to insist that not just her situation but her experiences were different to how she had described them. There was a hint of something anomalous to his responses – aggression, or outrage, or perhaps just panic – beneath the customary probing.

Agree, but he also addressed it and questioned himself about it.

I talk to everyone about my experience. I share on social media, in blogs, I have shared it at work when raising money for the unit. I think it is vital that women speak up about this so it stops being hidden and shameful.

If people avoid me for that, then they weren't worth knowing in the first place. I have had nothing but encouragement and support for sharing my experiences.

I talk to everyone about my experience. I share on social media, in blogs, I have shared it at work when raising money for the unit. I think it is vital that women speak up about this so it stops being hidden and shameful

I find it exhausting to do that,it's like revisiting something horrible over and over again. I'm not ashamed I just don't want to talk about it. I'm glad you're able to.

If people avoid me for that, then they weren't worth knowing in the first place

I agree completely but if you are dumped just when you need your friends the most it makes you very cautious! It certainly sorted the wheat from the chaff in my case.

That article is spot on. I thought the programme was good but wanted a series, i think, as it is so complex.
He struck me as questioning it - Catherine masked so well - and baby Jake was adorable. It's as if he couldn't beleive it, but also he wanted to make her feel better. Her beauty may have played a part here.

I never experienced pyschosis but did have intrusive thoughts and extreme post natal anxiety and depression. If i am honest it has take me years to get better.

love to you all x