Postnatal depression

Morten Birket-Smith, psychiatrist

There are no signs of an increase in depressions during pregnancy. But quite a lot of women experience insecurity and emotional instability in connection with their pregnancy. In a few cases, fathers can feel the same just before or after the birth.

Between 20% and 40% of all women feel emotionally unbalanced after giving birth. When you have just given birth, both your body and psyche need to get used to a completely new situation. You can become touchy and very tearful. You might feel very sad or unhappy, and perhaps you are missing the support and help from those closest to you.

These feelings often last a few days. But in approximately one in every ten women these feelings can develop into actual depressions, which have to be treated. If you are depressed, you find it difficult to look after your newborn baby and develop a good mother/child relationship from the beginning. This might then cause you to get a bad conscience, which in turn can contribute to prolonging the depression. It is therefore important to get the treatment for postnatal depression started quickly.