World Mental Health Day: Here’s what you need to know about post-partum depression

On Monday, a woman in Bengaluru confessed to killing her seven month old baby. An investigation revealed that she was suffering from post-natal or postpartum depression and was undergoing treatment for it. However, her husband abandoning her and the new baby along with an older child seemed to have driven her to postpartum psychosis.

The World Health Organization in its report ‘Women and Heath – Today’s health, Tomorrow’s Agenda’ says that women are more susceptible to depression and anxiety than men. It estimates that nearly 73 million women worldwide suffer from one major depressive episode per year. Mental disorders following childbirth - like post-natal depression - affects 13 % of women, within a year of delivery. Further, in lower income countries, only 14% of women get treatment for mental disorders.

Post-natal depression is common in India and doctors urge its must be treated. If you find a mother going through extensive sleep or mood fluctuations, being constantly anxious and irritable, she is likely to be going through postpartum blues. This is said to be common in about 70% of women and it goes away naturally. However, there are some extreme cases where it goes into post-natal depression. The mother goes through a range of emotions from hopelessness to worthlessness and can even turn suicidal. This occurs a month or two after the child is born and requires appropriate psychiatric treatment. If the mother is left untreated, the side effects turn severe and she can take her own life or the life of the child. The patient starts to hallucinate and starts having delusions along with severe behavioural changes. This is referred to as postpartum psychosis. If this continues for more than a week, it is best to seek professional help. Psychiatrists usually prescribe medication and counselling for the mother and the family.

Dr Prabha Chandra of the Department of Psychiatry, Nimhans, Bangalore conducted a study titled 'Delusions related to infants and their association with mother-infant interactions in postpartum psychotic disorders’. This study, done on about 100 women, found that nearly 50% of them ended up developing delusions in the postpartum period. These women were subsequently admitted to Nimhans for treatment. The study also showed that 40% of the women with postpartum depression had thoughts of killing their baby while nearly 36% exhibited such behavior. 

Though psychiatrists and psychologists acknowledge that post-natal depression is common in India, there are no statistics on how many women are affected by it each year. “We do not have exact large-scale epidemiological data from India but in general 10-15% females after childbirth are found to be affected by postpartum depression which translates to a huge number considering the large number of childbirths/year in our country,” explains Dr Madhusudan Singh Solanki, Consultant Psychiatrist, Saket City Hospital, Delhi.

As we celebrate World Mental Health Week, where does India stand on the treatment of mental health disorders like post-natal depression? Dr Solanki says, “In India, mental health is neglected. The government allocates less than 1% of the total health budget (which is 1% of the only 0.9% of the GDP allocated for health) for mental health. There are only 4000 psychiatrists in our country and mental health is riddled with stigma and lack of awareness.”