For many new mothers, in addition to the pain of childbirth, what is more frightening is an extremely lonely and dark stage after childbirth – postpartum depression. In recent years, there are many reports about postpartum depression, all of them have one thing in common: new mothers gradually develop from mild depression to severe depression after giving birth, and finally go to the extreme state, resulting in tragedies. The reason for this is that new mothers do not realize that they are in a depressed state and do not seek medical treatment in time; and their families, especially their husbands, do not realize it and do not give them sufficient understanding and care. So, today I will talk to you about postpartum depression. What is postpartum depression? Postpartum depression is a condition in which new mothers experience significant depressive symptoms or typical depressive episodes after giving birth, with an incidence of about 15% to 30%. Typical postpartum depression usually occurs within 6 weeks after delivery and takes 3 to 6 months to recover; however, there are exceptions, if the postpartum depression is severe, it can last 1 to 2 years. The risk of recurrence after another pregnancy and delivery is around 20-30%. What are the symptoms of postpartum depression? Pregnancy and childbirth are major events in a woman’s life, which have a great impact on women, both physically and psychologically. Emotional change Low mood is the main symptom of postpartum depression for new mothers, which generally manifests as long time low mood, gloomy expression, lethargy, sleepiness, like to cry, etc. Even if there is an improvement of mood for a few days or 1~2 weeks in the middle, but soon fall into depression again. Decreased self-evaluation Many new mothers will fall into a state of panic just after giving birth: sudden change of identity, physical pain and exhaustion, disordered hormones, dilemmas they have never encountered before, sudden unfamiliar husband …… which are crushing them a little bit, followed by new mothers blaming themselves and worrying about not being able to take care of their babies; self-abandonment. Hostility towards people around them and relationship with family and husband start to deteriorate, these are all manifestations of postpartum depression. Lack of confidence in life The above two points are mild manifestations of postpartum depression, but if the state of postpartum depression is long-term, there will be reluctance to feed the baby, feeling that life is meaningless and initiative is reduced; in serious cases, there may be suicidal thoughts or behaviors to harm the baby. Physical symptoms Besides psychological effects, postpartum depression can also bring great physical effects, such as decreased appetite, easy fatigue, difficulty in sleeping, and decreased or even complete loss of sexual desire. Since the problem of postpartum depression is so serious, how should we prevent and treat it? First of all, self-regulation is very important. Behavioral adjustment During pregnancy, new mothers will feel hard both physically and psychologically. Since it is not suitable to do strenuous exercise after delivery, you can do some appropriate relaxation activities, such as deep breathing, walking, meditation, meditating on calm images, listening to soothing and beautiful music, etc. It is always a good way to vent your negative emotions. New mothers can find some friends or relatives who have a good relationship with them to vent out their grievances and frustrations, and it is okay to cry. Self-encouragement method After giving birth because of the sudden change of living environment and state of mind, many new mothers will appear self-destructive situation and start to become unconfident about themselves, this time must be self-appreciation, more to see their own merits, more to see the benefits of things, more to think about the possible success of things. Shift of focus? If you are always facing serious unpleasant life events after giving birth, or even when the problem is difficult to solve, don’t let your energy always focus on the bad events. The more you think about unpleasant things, the worse your mood will be, and the worse your mood is, the easier it will be to take the bull by the horns, and the more depressed you will be, falling into a strange circle of emotional viciousness. So to properly divert their attention to something pleasant, focus on their preferences, not only thinking about the transfer, but also physically involved in pleasant activities within their reach. Secondly the support of family members has great significance. New mothers are always in a more tense state during pregnancy, and problems of childcare come one after another after delivery: differences in feeding concepts between two generations, the originally tense relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, unexpected conditions of the newborn, and the rapidly increasing economic pressure. …… These problems often make new mothers in a state of collapse, at this time, the care of their husbands and family members will make them feel much more at ease, so we must talk more with new mothers, communicate well and accompany them more, to avoid new mothers thinking alone. In addition to family treatment, postpartum depression can also be treated with medication. The general treatment includes antidepressant medication and hormone therapy, but it must be noted that the medication may be metabolized through breast milk secretion, which will affect the baby’s feeding, so new mothers must be careful when choosing medication. In addition, if new mothers or their family members find abnormalities, they can first use the depression test scale to self-assess and adjust their mindset in time, so as not to let it develop and become a tragedy.