In May, a 26-year-old woman killed her one-month-old twins in Jericho estate, Nairobi. Neighbors reacted with shock and anger, and wanted to lynch the mother.

The result would have been the unnecessary loss of three lives. The lady was most likely suffering from postpartum psychosis, a treated type of maternal depression.

If only the lady who was living with the mother of the twins knew about maternal depression and the warning signs of the illness, those twins' lives would have been saved.

According to World Health Organization, 10% of pregnant women and 13% of postpartum women experience maternal depression worldwide. In developing countries it is higher, i.e. 15.6% during pregnancy and 19.8% after childbirth.

UNCEF records shows that Kenya had 1.55m births in 2013. This could easily to translate to 0.24m prenatal depression cases and 0.31m post-partum depression cases, most of which were never attend to.

Maternal depression is an all-encompassing term for a spectrum of depressive conditions that can affect mothers (up to twelve months postpartum) and mothers-to-be.

These depressive conditions include prenatal depression, “baby blues”, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

Maternal depression is now recognized as a widespread public health issue and can have a negative impact on an individual’s life that is far reaching, affecting work, family and the health and development of the baby.

Firstly, there is prenatal depression, which occurs during pregnancy for expectant mothers. Some specific symptoms include anxiety, sleep problems, poor fetal attachment, and irritability.

During the first few weeks after birth, “baby blues” depression can affects up to 80 percent of new mothers and usually lasts about two weeks. It’s a mild form of depression, anxiety or mood swing.

Generally, this will start within the first couple of days after delivery, peak around one week, and taper off, on its own, by the end of the second week postpartum.

The next level is postpartum depression, which typically starts two to three months after birth, but lasts much longer than two weeks, distinguished from “baby blues.”

Postpartum depression has a very long list of symptoms that torment the new mother including persistent sadness and crying, poor concentration and indecisiveness, feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy or guilt and loss of interest in caring for herself.

Other symptoms include hyper-insomnia, significant decrease or increase in appetite, poor bonding with the baby or complete lack of bonding altogether, and biological symptoms such as headaches, chest pains, heart palpitations, and numbness.

Postpartum psychosis depression disorder or just postpartum psychosis affects 0.2 percent of new mothers, usually starting within two to four weeks after birth. The Jericho mother was most likely suffering from this condition.  

It has severe symptoms which include hallucinations and delusions, both auditory and visual, insomnia, hopelessness, anger, anxiety, paranoia, confusion, mania (elated mood, restlessness, hyperactivity), “bizarre delusions and commands to harm the infant,” and suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

If you are a spouse, caregiver or a family member to a mother showing any of the above symptoms, ensure that the mother gets medical attention immediately.

Maternal depression is treatable but if left untreated the consequences could be severe for both the mother and the baby.

The negative effects of maternal depression on children’s health and development can start during pregnancy.

While the biological mechanisms are not clearly understood, research on untreated prenatal depression finds links to poor birth outcomes, including low birth weight, prematurity, and obstetric complications.

Maternal depression in infancy predicts a child’s likelihood of increased cortisol levels at preschool age, which in turn has been linked with internalizing problems such as anxiety, social wariness and withdrawal.

Research has shown that when maternal depression is treated, it leads to reduction of child abuse and neglect incidents e.g. missing clinics, improved health of the infant – birth weight, infant mortality and reduced childbirth complications.

Others benefits include improvement in cognitive developmental of the child, better parent-child relationship function and reduction in relapse after depression treatment.

Join our maternal depression support group on our Facebook page below to interact with your peers and learn more about maternal depression.

 

The Author is the Founder/CEO of Psychiatric Disability Organization, which campaigns for compassion and support to people suffering from mental illnesses including addictions. He can be reached on:  iregim@gmail.com Website: http://www.pdokenya.org/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Psychiatricdisability/