Postnatal Depression (PND) is a common problem, affecting at least one in ten new mothers and their families.
In this book you will find outlined some of what is know about PND, how women and their families are affected by it, and how they might best be helped.
Following an Introduction, the book is organised in to five chapters. The signs and symptoms of PND are listed and described in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, 'Professional help', Lisa Fettling describes why it's hard for many new mothers to ask for help, suggests to whom they should turn for help, outlines how PND is diagnosed, suggests how a woman can best help her health professional to help her, and briefly describes treatment options. In Chapter 3, 'Help yourself, help from family and friends', Lisa suggests how a woman who has PND can best help herself, and how her partner, family-members and friends might help. In Chapter 4, 'Men, too, live with PND', Lisa describes how partners of women who have PND are affected, the impact that PND can have on a couple's relationship, how a significant number of partners will become depressed themselves, and how vital it is to a woman's recovery from PND that her partner play an active role; but she also makes the point that, before a man can help his partner, he needs to take care of his own emotional health. In Chapter 5, 'Understanding PND', Lisa provides brief and general answers to questions that many families will have: 'When can PND start? Can symptoms of depression appear during pregnancy? Does PND affect everyone the same way? How long might PND last? Might our children be affected? Who might get PND? When might I return to work? and, If I have another baby, will I get PND again?' The book ends with a brief Conclusion.
Illustrating the text are excerpts from the personal stories of 200+ people who have experienced PND or its effects – new mothers, partners, mothers of new mothers, mothers'-in-law, friends, and children. 'Most of these quotes reinforce', Lisa Fettling says, to women who have PND, 'often in quite individual ways, the points made in the basic text. You will, I hope, find reassurance in many of them. You will read them, and you will realise, more immediately perhaps than you will from the basic text, that you are not on your own, that others are experiencing or have experienced what you are experiencing now.' Comments from health professionals who treat women with PND are also included.
The book has been written for new mothers who have or suspect they have PND, pregnant women and new mothers who are at particular risk of developing it, and the partners and other family-members of these women. Parts of the book might usefully be brought to the attention of pregnant women in antenatal classes.
'This book provides sound answers to many frequently-asked questions, and does so with warmth and optimism. The voices of sufferers and ex-sufferers bring PND alive – and they will touch those women and their families who are affected by it, and help them through the dark and difficult times.'
Anne Buist, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, and Co-ordinator, National Postnatal Depression Program, excerpt from Foreword to this book.
'. . .an excellent book, easy to read, of great value. . .'
Barbara Minto, Manager, Mother-Baby Unit, Mercy Hospital for Women, and psychologist.
For more advance praise for this book, please click on Advance Praise link. |
