Group Helps New Mothers Fight The Blues

Many women regard the day they gave birth as the happiest day of their lives. The days immediately following delivery, however, are often less joyful for some new moms.

Last March, Deaconess Medical Center social worker Carolyn Ringo helped launch a support group for these women called Depression After Delivery. Ringo got the idea while attending a conference in Seattle, where she learned that about 20 percent of new mothers experience depression after delivering or adopting a baby, and many have nowhere to turn for help.

Depression After Delivery is modeled after the national support group with the same name.

The local Depression After Delivery is now coordinated by another Deaconess social worker, Janet Simchuk.

The support group helps moms who experience one or more of the following symptoms within a year of giving birth or adopting a child: crying for no reason; helplessness or hopelessness; anxiety attacks; numbness; overconcern or no feelings for the baby; anger; lack of interest in sex; feelings of inadequacy; an inability to cope or concentrate; a compulsive need to talk; exaggerated highs and lows; dramatic changes in sleeping or eating patterns; and depression, ranging from feeling sad to thoughts of suicide.

Concrete reasons for post-partum depression are not known, Simchuk said. Typical causes include having had a difficult birth or not getting the support they need at home.

Currently the group includes five women who meet at 7 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month at Deaconess. Of course, infants are welcome. And because a woman’s post-partum depression can also be streaaful for those around her, said Simchuk, husbands, partners and friends are encouraged to attend.

Group members provide important emotional support to one another by talking about what’s going on in their lives.

New mom Mary Kuula said the group not only provides information, but also serves as an emotional outlet.

Kuula had been depressed after having each of her four children, and no group like this was available, she said. Following her most recent delivery, though, the Depression After Delivery group helped Kuula “fight the feeling of isolation, identify symptoms (of depression) and understand what’s going on with your body,” she said.

Society sometimes encourages women to believe they must be “superwomen,” and everything about having a child should be wonderful, said Jackie, , another member of the group.

“It seems like there’s a lot of pressure to be a happy mom,” she said. “The biggest thing with the group is knowing that I’m not alone.”

Kuula agreed. The program’s main beneficial, she said, is knowing “you’re in that same space where someone else is, and you’re not having to explain where you’re at.”

Women experiencing post-partum signs of sadness or anxiety when they feel they should be happy and elated should call their doctor or contact Depression After Delivery, said Simchuk.

Both Simchuk and Ringo encourage others to refer depressed mothers to the support group. “When a mom feels low, they don’t have a lot of energy to find resources themselves,” Ringo said.

For more information, call Ringo at 458-7372 or Community Programs at 744-7666.

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