Below are symptoms of postpartum depression:

• Depressed mood, tearfulness, hopelessness, and feeling empty inside, with or without severe anxiety.
• Loss of pleasure in either all or almost all of your daily activities.
• Appetite and weight change-usually a drop in appetite and weight, but sometimes the opposite.
• Sleep problems-usually trouble with sleeping, even when your baby is sleeping.
• Noticeable change in how you walk and talk-usually restlessness, but sometimes sluggishness.
• Extreme fatigue or loss of energy.
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, with no reasonable cause.
• Difficulty concentrating and making decisions.
• Thoughts about death or suicide. Some women with PPD have fleeting, frightening thoughts of harming their babies: these thoughts tend to be fearful thoughts, rather than urges to harm.

Here are additional Warning Signs of Postpartum Depression.

Treatment can help
Psychotherapy can help the mother actually enjoy motherhood. Right now that may seem impossible. The mom may feel like they're stuck in a huge bog and when can she give this baby back? She feels like other mothers who coo and awe over their infants are aliens. She's not a bad mother for having these feelings.

Postpartum depression affects about 7 % of women and is due to a complex mix of factors, some hormonal, some life stressors (ex., relationships, financial stress, pre-term birth). It is highly treatable and a woman can feel better quickly.

And remember, when looking for a psychotherapist please consider the special requirements of postpartum women.

The baby's crying, you feel like a truck hit you . . .
Postpartum depression (PPD) can feel overwhelming at a time when everyone expects you to be happy. There's a difference between the "baby blues" and a more serious postpartum depression. Pretty much everyone goes through a time where they're adjusting to having a new baby in the house. You may be tearful and sad and your mood may swing pretty drastically even within the same day (o.k., the same hour!). That's all pretty normal.

After you give birth, your hormones are like a heroin addict trying to go cold turkey. You have a huge hormonal crash. It takes a couple of weeks for all of your hormones to regulate again. So give yourself some time.

Some women know immediately that it's beyond "normal"
It feels different. They don't have the moments of happiness anywhere in the day or it may feel heavier. Depression often feels like it's descending on you. Or everything feels pretty "normal" (whatever that means after you have a baby!) but then it builds and hits you 3 or 4 or 5 months later.

You can bring your baby to session
I want you to know that you can bring your baby into session with you. You can change a diaper in session, nurse in session, walk and pace to keep the baby sleeping. Whatever it is you need to do, babies in arms (that means pre-crawling) are welcome in session.

Or you can leave your baby home
Sometimes, especially when you have postpartum depression, you just want to get away for a while. Even an hour or two can make a huge difference in the way that you feel and your energy reserves. It's o.k. to feel like that. Let me say it again. It's o.k. to feel like leaving the baby. Those are normal feelings that every mother has which sometimes get intensified when postpartum depression hits. You can read the blog article I have about this very topic!