I’ve written about postnatal depression before and I’ve no doubt that I will again. I delivered another workshop this week down in Croydon, quite a journey from Chester! But well worth it to deliver training to people as passionate about making a difference as Elaine Hanzak (www.hanzak.com) and I both are. It was really well received. Whenever we do this I am struck by the hidden nature of this condition. Women feel guilty about feeling so bad, fear they will be judged and at worst have their baby taken away.
Now fears are being expressed in research carried out by the charity 4children, Netmums and The Community Practitioner and Health Visitors association that parents will be less able to access support from Childrens’ Centres due to government cutbacks. It also seems that the decline in health visitor numbers means that they are less able to do this very important work. Research has shown that a series of listening visits by health visitors can make a real difference to women with mild to moderate depression.
In terms of providing support for women any cutbacks are most likely to affect middle class mothers. But there exists a myth that if you live in a nice house, you are happily married and have a fantastic career, postnatal depression will not happen to you .. you’re not the type. But it can happen to anyone and every woman deserves help and support to get through this very difficult time. I have heard Elaine use the word “hell” to describe her experience of puerperal psychosis, the most severe form of postnatal depression. At best a woman can feel very isolated and lacking in confidence. At worst it can lead a woman to take her own life and in fact suicide is the highest cause of maternal death.
Most of us know that the impact of this condition is felt by the whole family and indeed the impact on the baby can be serious. As well if left untreated it can lead to further depressive episodes in later life. And now as I write my book and reflect on my life I firmly believe that is what happened to me. I am now well but the impact lasted 20 years. I know that I can help women particularly women here in Cheshire, Wirral and North Wales but that is only a tiny part of the answer. Is postnatal depression, despite everything that is known about its effects, going to get swept back under the carpet because of government cutbacks?
Contact me on:
Tel: 01244 300 391
Email:
ann@onthethreshold.co.uk
3 comments:
I had incredible support from my husband and family but could not shake the dark clouds that hovered over me for more than 6 months. I am convinced now that I had PND but kept pushing the thoughts away because "what could I have to be depressed about?" Someone with experience, training and, most importantly, time, could have coaxed me to talk about it and helped me see it for what it was.
Time to listen (beyond the spoken words of "everything's fine") is going to be the first thing to go with cuts in this sector and yet could be one of the most cost effective forms of treatment...
My wife and mother to our 14-week-old baby girl died on the 30th April, her funeral was attended by over 500 guests (many of them consultants, surgeons, doctors and nurses who had worked with her through her 20 year nursing career.
All of them were asking the same question as I have been asking since her death on the 30 April; how could such a wonderful, caring, sensitive and dedicated nursing professional have been allowed to descend into such a desperate state of Post Natal Depression (PND)?
Since her funeral I have investigated the surroundings and issues associated with PND and the severe form my wife was being treated for I have become horrified at the lack or prioritisation given to patients and there carers, the piecemeal implementation of the NICE guidelines and the fact that the highest cause of maternal deaths is now suicides as a result of mental illness (PND). It was 2003 when Dr Margaret Oates authored the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths, which identified that most women with PND died violent deaths, shooting, stabbing, hanging themselves or throwing themselves from high buildings or in front of fast moving vehicles. It was agreed that there was a need for national guidelines for the management of maternal mental health in primary care but since there issuing of the NICE guidelines "Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health - Clinical Management and Service Guidance" in 2007 implementation has NOT been fully completed in many regions. Whilst the incidence of Post Natal Depression continues to rise this places an unacceptable number of lives as risk given NHS publications state that most woman should fully recover from Post Natal Depression.
My aim is to inspire & motivate change within The Department of Health, the NHS, NHS Primary Care and providers of Mental Health Services to ensure the full and complete implementation of the NICE guidelines on Post Natal Depression and where necessary advise on changes to policy, guidelines and best practice in order to reduce and minimise the number of maternal deaths each year as a result of postnatal mental health problems.
It's time for the 'conservatory set' to fight back!
Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/nhs-service-delivery-issues-how-will-the-new-structure-reduce-maternal-death-rates-2821475.html#ixzz0tcbDmq3G
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Thank you both for your comments. Chris, my heart goes out to you and at the same time i feel so angry that this is still happening due in part to inadequacies in the systems that are there in theory to help women. I agree, we need to do something to help women who will experience this condition in the future and to save lives of women like Jo .. whatever it takes
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