Leadership

As our understanding of psychiatric and mental health disorders continues to evolve, we are recognizing numerous new populations of people who have suffered in silence for years, quietly assuming that their issues were a mark of personal failure or inadequacy rather than symptoms of a chronic condition.

At the Institute of Living, we are proud to be on the forefront of this effort to reach new groups of people who are in need of behavioral health services. We have a strong track record of creating innovative and pioneering programs for groups such as the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer or Questioning) community and young adults struggling with the pressures of college, or young adults with psychosis.

Over the past year, we have extended this effort to another population that has long been neglected and stigmatized by popular notions of childbirth – new mothers with postpartum depression or psychosis.

Over the past year, we have extended this effort to another population that has long been neglected and stigmatized by popular notions of childbirth – new mothers with postpartum depression or psychosis.

We are recognizing that the changes in a woman’s physiology in the peripartum period which are responsible for peripartum mood disorders can send a woman into a spiral of depression and psychosis. At a time when people expect a woman to be overcome with joy and happiness, it can seem confounding and even shameful to women who instead experience feelings of profound despair and even harbor impulses to hurt themselves or their newborns. It’s no wonder that women have traditionally struggled to keep such feelings a secret, but more and more, new mothers are finding the courage to explore the symptoms that contribute to their condition, and seek treatment. At the IOL, we started one of the country’s first Peripartum Mood Disorders Programs last year, and it is continuing to expand its reach so that obstetricians and other specialists who care for expecting mothers have the education and resources they need to help identify postpartum depression and direct mothers to the care they need. A recent development was the addition of therapeutic services for the mother-infant dyad.

We should not be surprised about the impact that postpartum depression can have on the fathers of newborns whose spouses or partners are struggling with feelings of hopelessness and disconnectedness. We are just beginning to recognize this population as one that is also vulnerable to depression when wives or partners have a negative reaction to the birth of a child. In this issue, you will hear directly from one couple that struggled mightily with issues related to postpartum psychosis, but found the strength to seek treatment and found their way back to stability and happiness. Stories such as theirs – and others who are emerging from the shadows of shame and despair – are the reason we are here.

Harold I. (Hank) Schwartz, MD

Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Institute of Living