High school sweethearts Mitchell and Brenda Encarnacion filled their early years of marriage with excitement before embarking on a different kind of adventure. Mitchell said Brenda was “over the moon” about the impending birth of her baby. “She was reading all these books. It was like YouTube videos. She made me a PowerPoint! It was like a full-time job for her.” He said.
In October 2020, Brenda gave birth to her daughter Evelyn. But despite all her preparations, there was one thing he hadn't foreseen. “Sometimes I would catch her crying for no reason,” Mitchell said. “And I always asked her, and she said, 'Oh, it's just hormones.' She just kept calling it 'mommy brain.' ”
As an EMT, Mitchell said she recognized the signs of postpartum depression and recommended she see a therapist, but the situation didn't improve. “She looked different the morning before,” he said. “I could tell there was something wrong with her eyes.”
On that day, nine months after giving birth, Brenda Encarnanción took her own life. She was 30 years old.
family photo
by American Medical Association Journal, In the United States, one in seven women experiences postpartum depression (PPD). First of all, new moms die the most from suicide and overdose.
“Their chief complaint is 'I feel overwhelmed,' and that should be our cue to dig deeper,” said Dr. Christina Deligianidis, director of women's behavioral health at New York University. Ta. Zucker Hillside Hospital. She studies and treats depression in pregnant and postpartum women.
She said PPD is not “baby blues.” “Both exist, and that's part of the confusion,” Deligianidis said. “Baby blues are actually a normal physiological adaptation to childbirth, so our brains need to reset, which can also affect our mood. And if they last more than two weeks There is no need for treatment at all.”
Postpartum depression and perinatal depression are do not have It goes away after two weeks, but the symptoms are often more severe than just feeling a little sad. “Many women will withdraw from the things they once enjoyed,” Deligiannidis says. “They will also report simply feeling drained of energy.”
PPD is caused by factors such as genetics, stress, and hormonal changes. In fact, you can see it when you look at scans of the brain's medial prefrontal cortex, which is important for emotional regulation and cognition. “We've found that this region is actually much more active and more activated in postpartum depression than in women who don't have any symptoms at all,” Dr. Delgianidis said, suggesting that PPD is real. He said this is proof that this is true and dispels the stigma that this is not PPD. It's not a “real” medical illness.
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Lisette Lopez-Rose didn't need a brain scan to know something was wrong. “I like to think of it as a shell, like a crab shell,” she said. “I felt like the meat was the baby and it was picked and then I was just thrown away. That's what I really felt.”
A few months after giving birth to daughter Sybil in November 2020, Lisette started having suicidal thoughts. But her doctors never knew. “It's all about the baby and never about her mother,” she said. “It's never been, 'How are you doing?' So we've never had a conversation. I think if we had, I might have been a little more honest.”
She said she was afraid to admit she didn't feel well. “I'm a woman of color, I'm Latina, and I think if I said, 'I want to take my life,' or something like that, they would take my baby away. It was my mind. That's why I couldn't be honest about how those thoughts were affecting me.”
Lisette eventually found help and is now sharing her journey on social media in hopes of ending the stigma of PPD.
But experts say only about 6 percent of diagnosed women receive treatment, and thousands more do not come forward at all. “I think we're probably underestimating the people who are suffering,” said Joy Burkhard, the group's executive director. Maternal and Child Health Policy Center.
The reason so many women struggle, she said, is because women in the U.S. bounce between health care providers so often. “Our system does not hold any particular health care provider accountable for a mother's mental health disorder,” Burkhardt said. “The issue really is accountability. Who is responsible for finding and developing treatment plans to support women?”
Traditional treatments like antidepressants take time, but new moms do. But starting this week, mothers may have another option. FDA approved new drug Zurzuvaethe first pill in history specifically for postpartum depression.
Dr. Delgianidis conducted one of the trials and said that taking it for 14 days provided almost immediate symptom relief. The quick response gave her goosebumps, she said. “It was a little surreal. We just weren't trained this way to think our treatments would work this quickly.”
The overall cost of the treatment is approximately $16,000, but it is unclear at this time whether or how much insurance will cover it. There are other things that are unclear. Dr Delgianidis said it shouldn't be taken while breastfeeding, saying: “We don't have the data, we don't know yet. We don't know if it will affect the baby. Over time, it will. We provide information to help breastfeeding patients make those decisions.”
But experts like Joy Burkhardt say this is a reason for hope, saying: “This is a game-changer. But what we don't want to miss is that women still need support. “That's the fact. We need a pill, but we need more than that.”
Mitchell Encarnacion likes to share happy memories with his daughter Evie. But he is also willing to talk about his painful past in the hopes that by reflecting on his past, he can encourage more women with PPD to come forward.
“I never thought it would happen to me,” he said. “I never thought something like this could happen to someone so happy. If these people knew, they would still have their mother, because now all Evie has is a picture of her mother. hey.”
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Story produced by Sarah Kugel. Editor: Carol Ross.
See also:
If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal crisis, 988 Lifeline for suicide and crisis You can also call 988 or send a text message. Chat with 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.
For more information, Mental health care resources and supportThe National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline is available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email [email protected] receive.
