Much more than just a "baby blues"

Created: 01/02/2023 12:19 p.m

By: Sabine Fleischer

Around 100,000 women in Germany suffer from depression during pregnancy or after childbirth every year.

© YuriArcurs/Panther Media

District - Where to go when motherhood is overshadowed by deep self-doubt and tears?

Saying 'It'll be fine' doesn't help sick women.

Peripartal depression, i.e. depression that occurs during pregnancy (peri) and/or after birth (post), is still misjudged.

Two women from the district of Landsberg want to change that and recently founded a self-help group.

Their goal: to make people more aware of the disease and the regional offers of help.

When Naomi Busse gave birth to her son six years ago, she wasn't on cloud nine.

On the contrary, she fell into a deep emotional hole.

And it took a year for the new mom to find out.

Also because there was obviously a lack of adequate help in the district.

The dull feeling, the fears, the self-doubts got the upper hand for a long time.

"I just couldn't stop crying," Busse describes her condition at the time.

Although she had a loving midwife who attributed her emotional chaos to the so-called 'baby blues' – a widespread, short-term depression after the birth – she did not realize that the new mother was suffering from postpartum depression.

According to the self-help organization "Schatten&Licht", around 100,000 women in Germany suffer from this form of depression every year during or after childbirth: "The illness often causes them to have strong self-doubt and feelings of guilt because they can no longer cope with their everyday life and themselves feel like a bad mother”, can be read on the website of the organization www. Schatten-und-licht.de.

The illness, if solidified, could also lead to "suicidal thoughts", Busse emphasizes the seriousness of the event.

She herself was lucky and it didn't hit her on that level.

And she had a good environment that encouraged her to get help.

A first ray of hope was the homepage of “Schatten & Licht”.

The forum there with reports from other mothers showed her “that I am not alone”.

Through a friend, Busse got an appointment with a “sympathetic psychiatrist” in Germering and then began behavioral therapy.

And could have resorted to anti-depressants in an emergency.

After a year she was healthy again.

Fortunately, the birth of the second child no longer led to this clinical picture - also because the mother of two was now more careful.

Wednesday meeting

Since then, Naomi Busse has wanted to help affected women in the district.

Along with her neighbor Dr.

Karin Romberg, who also suffered from postpartum depression when her first child was born, founded a self-help group for sick mothers in the Landsberg district with the website www.shg- Schatten-und-licht-landsberg.de.

Both are also active as consultants for the national association “Licht&Schatten”.

The Landsberg group currently meets every first Wednesday of the month from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the rooms of the family oasis in Katharinenvorstadt.

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday.

The second meeting of the self-help group at the beginning of December showed that there is a need in Landsberg and the surrounding area.

"At the first appointment there was 'only' one mother, at the second meeting there were already six women," reports Busse.

However, she wanted to continue to vigorously promote the disease in order to make the disease more visible to the public and to show affected women possible contact points.

You have good contact with a gynecologist at the Landsberg Clinic and you are also in discussion with the surrounding pediatricians and gynecologists, emphasizes Busse.

Another important point of contact: the psychiatric department of the kbo-Lech-Mangfall-Klinik at the Klinikum Landsberg.

The next step is to tackle the preparatory courses for expectant mothers and sensitize the participants there to the topic.