Postpartum blues or "baby blues"
The postpartum blues is the perinatal mood disorder the most common and affect between 30 to 75 percent. 100 women. It occurs within hours or days after birth and peaked on the third or fourth day. The symptoms only last a few days and usually resolve after one week. Generally, women who are mothers happy that react in a more "emotional" to stimuli. They can quickly go from joy to tears, suddenly become irritable, tearful or anxious and live disturbances in terms of sleep and appetite. Researchers have suggested that some of these behaviors may result from the rapid hormonal changes that occur in these women.
This is a cockroach that light does not usually require treatment, if not the support and comfort. By definition, the cockroach is brief and does not persist more than two weeks. While most sufferers will feel good afterwards, up to 20 percent. 100 of them will develop major depression during the first year after birth. This may occur as a result of the aggravation of "baby blues" or later, after the mother has recovered from his blues.
"Baby pinks" Or euphoire postpartum
As the "baby blues" refers to changes in mood can go from joy to sadness, some women feel slightly euphoric after the birth of their baby. This condition, known as the "baby pinks," can last from several hours to several days. Just as the "baby blues", he did not need treatment and may even go unnoticed by some who consider this reaction as "normal" at birth of a child.
In some cases, symptoms of "baby blues" and "baby pinks" in need of care. One of the main characteristics of these two states is that mood swings are mild and transient. If these changes are extreme - for example if they last more than a few days or more intense - they can be signs of more serious problems requiring review and monitoring
Postpartum anxiety
As is the case for depression, anxiety that expresses after childbirth is no different, clinically, to that which occurs at any other time of life. However, there are few data on scientifi c this state compared to other postpartum disorders. Studies suggest that between four and 15 p. 100 women would experience anxiety after the birth of their baby
Some women are anxious only during pregnancy or after childbirth, while others are the before and after the baby is born. In a recent British study of scale from 8323 pregnant women, Heron et al. (2004) found that 7.3 percent. 100 of them had reported having a high level of anxiety during pregnancy. Of these, 1.4 percent. 100 experienced marked anxiety within eight weeks of delivery. Among women who said they were not very anxious during pregnancy, 2.4 percent. 100 reported experiencing considerable anxiety postpartum.
Many mothers feel anxious, overwhelmed and scared following the birth of their baby. This is understandable given the changes involved the role of new parent. In some cases, however, the anxiety that interferes with daily life of the mother and affect her character and mode of operation.
Puerperal psychosis or postpartum
Unlike the "baby blues" and PPD, psychosis Postpartum (or puerperal) is the most serious and rarest of postpartum mood disorders and occurs in one or two cases per 1000 births. Symptoms develop rapidly, often within 48 to 72 hours after the baby is born, and most cases occur in the first two weeks of the postpartum period. Some studies suggest that postpartum psychosis have a genetic or biological, and would be more common in women with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or with a family history of disorders mood.
The most common symptoms are depression and extreme euphoria (mania) similar to that observed in cases of bipolar disorder (or manic depression). Women with can quickly go from mania to depression and vice versa, or have access "euphoric" (mania) followed by bouts of depression. They often appear bizarre or deviant behavior and are confused or perplexed.
Most women with postpartum psychosis displayed psychotic symptoms. Clinicians define delirium as fixed false ideas, as opposed to reality, and that are deemed unacceptable to the culture of the person affected. Delirium often revolves around feelings of persecution, love and guilt. As for the hallucinations, clinicians define them as distortions of sensory perception in the absence of any external stimulus. The most common hallucinations are auditory in nature (hear noises or voices that no one else hears) or visual (seeing things or people that others can not see). A mother may believe for example that her baby has special powers or superior intelligence (she thinks she can write a successful book or is a renowned artist, she and her children spend on TV Because of these special talents). Some women hear voices that encourage them to do or say something (positive or negative).
As was mentioned earlier, if the cases of infanticide and suicide are rare, they are nonetheless serious risks in women suffering from postpartum psychosis. Symptoms of postpartum psychosis are changing rapidly; a woman lucid and calm during the first interview may become suicidal and psychotic few hours later.
Nature of psychosis is quite unpredictable and even a seasoned psychiatrist may be difficult to detect. Any woman who manifests extreme mood swings (from euphoria to gloom) or psychotic symptoms should seek immediate psychiatric care.