| November 20, 2003 Postpartum depression --This one confounds me. This condition absolutely vexes me. Here you give birth the most wonderful thing you could give birth to (literally and figuratively) and you’re sad and depressed about it?!? Before igniting the torches and sharpening the pitchforks women, hear me out. All I’m doing he is trying to reason why this happens in 1 of every 10 women that give birth to an alien...err...I mean child. Heck if the government can’t even figure out why women get this, I’m entitled to give a shot at it. “No one knows for sure what causes postpartum depression (PPD).” –National Institute of Mental Health I’m gonna be blunt here. It may at first sound uncompassionate or heartless, but I believe women go through PPD because they shouldn’t have had a baby in the first place (I’m not getting into divine predestination here, that’s a paradox I don’t feel like hopelessly thinking about right now). I think I’ve found a correlation concerning PPD that most of the “learned” folk seem oblivious to. Maybe they’re too afraid to be blunt with women and say “Hey, the reason you’re depressed and upset is because you’re realizing you shouldn’t have had this baby, you weren’t ready.” I’m not saying they should never have a baby, but the effect of PPD indicates that at the specific time they did decide to have a baby, it was ill-conceived (pun intended). Sort of like getting married too young. Let’s address my so called “correlation”. Let’s take an automotive purchase for example. A bit more trivial and inanimate of a situation, but it was suit my need to address human thought and emotion just fine. So you buy this car that you’ve looked at and decided that’s the one for you. A couple days/weeks/months later you begin to have doubt about your purchase. The car payments may be draining, the horsepower may seem lacking, and you may be falling “out” of love in the color, whatever. This is a common occurrence with car buyers; they feel dissatisfied with their purchase and regret making the deal in the first place. Ok, this scenario isn’t identical to the having a baby one, but it gives you another vantage point at what happens to people when they realize they might have, or made, a mistake or a bad decision. I think women that go through PPD made a bad decision. They’re condition of PPD is a direct sign that they indeed weren’t ready to have that child, that they weren’t prepared for the responsibilites involved, both physical and emotional. Come on women, here you made this baby (the baby sure didn’t have a choice in the matter), and you’re starting to crack emotionally when this infant, who has no ability to do even the simplest of functions on their, needs you the most?!? Shame on you PPD women. But it comes as no surprise though, because they obviously weren’t ready for childbirth. The reason I hold onto this seemingly uncompassionate view is because I guarantee you that thousands upon thousands of mothers could vouch they at no point did they ever regret or feel depressed about having the child they did, proving that if you’re prepared, you won’t experience PPD. Sure they might have some tough times and go through troubles, but those are just founded in inexperience, not regret and depression. I find the “hormone” excuse/smokescreen extremely sketchy. So what’s my solution you say? If I’m not part of the solution, I’m part of the problem, yes I know that. Well my solution is to educate women considering motherhood more on what that actually means. All the responsibilities, what to expect, complications associated, etc. And they need to know that what they’re signing up for is not returnable to the store. Once you know you’re locked in I think it’s easier to accept. And I think it’s easier to identify emotional basketcases than you think, so maybe there could be like a “character” test doctors could do to see if the women is emotionally secure enough to handle a baby. There needs to be more screening! Too many immature, emotional basketcases are making babies, and the situation just propagates itself. Everything requires training of some sort. You can’t automatically assume that just because you’re a girl, the mother thing will come natural. Sure the heart things come natural, but you have to exercise you mind also, preparing for the race set before you. I’m just tired of people blaming their own ill-advised decisions on hormones and chemical imbalances. Get some guts people and face the music and responsibility of your out actions; mental, physical, and emotional. We’re not untamed animals. I think PPD is one of those “phantom” diseases like Major Disorder Depression, etc. These people don’t really have any physical problem at all, but because their doctors (whom paychecks depend on these kind of people), TV, and magazines tell them they do, they believe it. Maybe there is no “cure” for PPD and these women are just going to have to live with the consequences of their decisions. But I do believe PPD can be prevented. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong. ...I have no idea why I wrote an article about postpartum depression...and yes, you don't have to remind me, I know I have no idea what it's like to be a girl an/or mother and/or to give birth... More Information on PPD |