The Critical Role of Community in Postpartum Depression Care

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsYou’re Not Alone, Even If It Feels Like ItHow Far the PPD Conversation Has ComeWhere PPD Treatment Stands TodayIt Takes a Village

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

You’re Not Alone, Even If It Feels Like It

How Far the PPD Conversation Has Come

Where PPD Treatment Stands Today

It Takes a Village

Every Friday onThe Verywell Mind Podcast, host Minaa B., a licensed social worker, mental health educator, and author of “Owning Our Struggles,” interviews experts, wellness advocates, and individuals with lived experiences about community care and its impact on mental health.

Depression doesn’t care how many good things you might have in your life, or how well things appear to be going from the outside. It doesn’t care if you don’t have a solid answer when someone wonders what you’re so sad about. Depression can be particularly debilitating specificallybecauseof how it can affect you regardless of the surrounding details of your life. And what’s worse—it can often make you feel like you are bound to suffer alone, with no outside support able to breach the walls of the illness.

Postpartum depressionis no different. It arises at a time in your life that is supposed to be joyous, exciting, and more than a little magical—you’ve brought new life into the world, after all. But if you are one of the 10%-15% of new mothers who deal with PPD, you are faced with the life-limiting effects of depression while having to nurture that new life, all while physically and mentally recovering from the trauma of childbirth.

For Paige Bellenbaum, social worker and Founding Director ofThe Motherhood Centerof New York, that struggle hit her 17 years ago with the birth of her son—before anybody was really talking about maternal mental health or had the words to describe the experience of PPD.

—PAIGE BELLENBAUM, LCSW

When she ultimate found help at a one-of-a-kind (at the time, at least) perinatal center in New York City, she found not only traditional treatments like medication and therapy, but also discovered what should be a pillar of coping with postpartum depression: community.

Postpartum depression or anxiety isn’t a prerequisite for suchintrusive thoughts, either. Bellenbaum says, “Women are so fearful to come forward and say that they’re having these thoughts for fear of judgment.” She notes how easy it is to think “What kind of a mother would ever think these things?”

Most women—75% to 80%—dealing with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders do not come forward out of this fear and others like it. Think about how many new moms that percentage represents. You might be afraid that your intrusive thoughts make you a bad mom—we’re here to tell that they don’t, no matter how scary they may feel.

Bellenbaum’s goal with The Motherhood Center is to normalize these kinds of conversations, normalize asking for help, and expedite the help that new moms so desperately need. The center provides access to specialists, treatment, and support groups for new parents experiencing postpartum mood disorders. That work is why we named her one ofThe Verywell Mind 25for 2023—a list of the leaders making the biggest difference in the mental health space across the country.

When it happened to me, I had no idea what it was.

Throughout most of history, the importance of women in society has been largely centered on their ability to provide offspring to continue the family line, work and inherit the family land, and so on. That doesn’t sound like fertile ground for general societal interest in maternal mental health, does it?

“Luckily things have changed,” she says. “To be able to connect with a therapist who specializes in perinatal mental health like we do at The Motherhood Center, or to attend a support group where there are other new and expecting moms that are struggling with mental illness—these things are now much more easily accessible than they ever were before.”

Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. Among developed countries, the United States has the worst maternal mortality rate in the world. Black mothers are disproportionately affected, with a mortality rate about three times that of White women according toCDC data.

An important part of effectively treating PPD is identifying it early with screening such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. And Bellenbaum says that education and awareness should come even earlier—even before conception—for those who are trying to have kids.

When PPD is identified, treatment may typically involve a combination of antidepressant medication and therapy, such asCBTorinterpersonal therapy, along with other interventions such as peer and family support. Research shows that breastfeeding may also have a positive effect.

“At The Motherhood Center, our logo is a life preserver,” Bellenbaum says. The illness can make you feel so alone, untethered, and less likely to ask for help, even if that is the exact thing you need the most in that moment.

“I can’t tell you how many women use the description of feeling as though they’re drowning or their relationship to water in some way when they’re experiencing a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder,” she says.

So many women suffer and struggle silently.

She uses this analogy to ensure that partners, family members, and close friends all understand the value of being educated on the signs of maternal mental health struggles, in case they are needed to be that life preserver for a new parent who is struggling.

“All of us play a role,” Bellenbaum says. From providers to partners and friends, family, and other women that have experienced maternal mental health issue, making space for education, sharing stories, and allowing other women to come forward, there is no limit to the value of community.

“Community to me means that we are all doing our part,” Bellenbaum says, “to truly support new mothers, pregnant women, and birthing people as they go through the most important transition of their lifetime.”

1 SourceVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Fitelson E, Kim S, Baker AS, Leight K.Treatment of postpartum depression: clinical, psychological and pharmacological options. Int J Womens Health. 2010 Dec 30;3:1-14. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S6938

1 Source

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Fitelson E, Kim S, Baker AS, Leight K.Treatment of postpartum depression: clinical, psychological and pharmacological options. Int J Womens Health. 2010 Dec 30;3:1-14. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S6938

Fitelson E, Kim S, Baker AS, Leight K.Treatment of postpartum depression: clinical, psychological and pharmacological options. Int J Womens Health. 2010 Dec 30;3:1-14. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S6938

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