Postpartum depression can affect anyone regardless of social status or wealth. The list of celebs who have had to gain control of this very real part of pregnancy and childbirth continues to grow. The latest celebrity to admit to having suffered from postpartum depression is singer Marie Osmond.

Reports published recently online revealed that in 1999 following the birth of her son Matthew she had the worst case of the baby blues ever. While admitting that she had baby blues in previous births, with Matthew it was bad and became more than just that. In an interview published online at the Daily Mail website, Osmond said, “Then one day, she snapped. I remember walking down the stairs and putting Matthew in the arms of the nanny. I can’t stay here, I told her. There is something wrong, really wrong with me. I have to leave until I figure it out.”

Thankfully, her husband and mother helped her seek treatment and she got better. Osmond said she was shocked to know her own mother had also had her own battle with the demon of postpartum depression.

Symptoms of Postpartum Depression

It is important to identify the symptoms of Postpartum depression so that help can be found before disaster strikes. Some of the most commons symptoms include:

• Thoughts of suicide

• Thoughts of harming the baby or even others

• Extreme anxiety

• Elevated levels of stress

• Change in sleep pattern

• Desire to stay in bed

• Loss of appetite

The feelings of Postpartum depression are far more elevated than those of baby blues which affects many new moms. If you or a loved one is pregnant, start learning about this potentially serious condition before the birth so as to be prepared.

Other Celebrities Who Battled Postpartum Depression

Another celebrity who has had to deal with the condition is Brooke Shields. She was lambasted by Tom Cruise for talking about using prescription medication to deal with postpartum depression. Shields went on to write a book which she hoped would help other women, Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. Others include Gwyneth Paltrow, actress Gena Lee Nolin formerly of Baywatch who had the condition with all three of her children; Angelina Jolie, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Amanda Peet and Lisa Marie Presley.

It’s a fact of life that almost every aspect of human behavior is blamed on something else, no matter how far fetched the link might seem. Well you can judge this one for yourself, but according to the latest reports, researchers are claiming that pregnancy magazines are to be blamed for the baby blues.

I am sure that the publishers of these magazines may be more than a little upset at this charge, but let’s see what the researchers had to say. In their opinion, these magazines offer pregnant women a somewhat unrealistic view of pregnancy and giving birth. They claim that it is treated as a ‘beautiful, big adventure’, giving the impression that everything related to pregnancy such as getting the nursery ready or going back to work, is easy.

The researchers say that when women find that things are not as portrayed by these magazines, it causes them to slip into depression. In their opinion, many new mothers are at risk of post-natal depression when they can’t be pampered the way some of the women in the magazines are.

The study titled ‘The Making of Modern Motherhoods‘ was done by the Open University through funding provided the Economic and Social Research Council. Women were reportedly interview during the later part of their pregnancies, and twelve of them were interviewed again after they gave birth. The study also looked at eight pregnancy magazines.

I do feel that like everything else in this world, motherhood and pregnancy have become highly commercialized. The idea behind a magazine after all is to gain revenue through advertising. But I can’t help but wonder if this research is being fair, not only to the publishers, but also to pregnant women and new mothers everywhere.

Postpartum depression is a serious issue. I am not sure that human beings, even considering our susceptibility to clever marketing campaigns, can be so easily misled. I feel that the majority of pregnant women have few illusions if any, about what pregnancy entails, and what happens afterwards. In all honesty, you simply can’t plan for everything. You might want to have a natural birth and end up having a c-section. You may be planning around your due date and the baby may come two weeks early or two weeks later.

Don’t take this as harsh, but maybe women who are led to believing that it is all easy going after reading a few magazines should share some of the blame, not just the publications themselves. This research seems to suggest that pregnant women might be as easily led as children seeing ads during Saturday morning cartoons. In other words they simply don’t give women enough credit.

I am not by any means discounting what the women interview for the study may have been going through. But we can’t be sure if they covered enough women for the study to really come to that conclusion. So what do you think? Are pregnancy magazines really to blame for the depression some women feel after giving birth?

I know that these stories have become somewhat common, especially given what we now know about post-partum depression, and after hearing some of the horrific stories that have made the news. However I was still touched by this story and felt compelled to share it.

A woman in Britain named Shelley Price revealed in an interview that she is unable to love her daughter who is now 11. Price who is now 33, admits that she has no problem showing love and affection for her second child, also a girl.

Here’s the back-story; Shelly became pregnant for her first long-term boyfriend when she was 22. They had been together for five years, but the relationship ended shortly after the baby was born. Price was quoted online as saying, “We didn’t bother about protection as I had polycystic ovarian disease and my doctor said it might take years to start a family. So it was a shock when I realized I was expecting. Deep down, I felt it wasn’t the right time for me.”

Although her mother expressed concerns, according to Price, she was determined to prove her wrong. After a healthy pregnancy and routine birth, she was surprised by the feelings that hit her. Price felt no emotional bonding the first time the midwives placed her newborn in her arms. The Dailymail.com story quotes Price: “She didn’t feel like my own flesh and blood. She felt dirty… I did not want to touch her. I didn’t even want to look at her. I asked the nurse to take her away and clean her. I know it sounds awful, but I just wanted to have a shower and forget all about it.”

While the first thought that comes to mind may be post-partum depression, Price is adamant that is not her problem. She says she did ask for help when her daughter was four, but her concerns were quickly dismissed. Post-partum depression does seem like the most likely reason but of course diagnosis is best left to the experts. Additionally the situation may have been made worse by the breakup of her relationship, making any recovery from her initial problems, if possible that is, all the more difficult.

Price goes on in the interview to describe the way she used to pick her daughter up when she fell, but quickly put her back down. She also talked about being happy to drop her off to play, and dreading the thought of going to get her, and telling her young daughter to call her by her given name.

This is a truly heartbreaking story, and I can only hope that any woman who finds herself in this situation gets help early. It is hard for most of us to even imagine what she and the little girl she calls sweet is going through. I trust that sometime in the future a bond will be built between mother and daughter.

The birth of a baby should be a joyful time, so people have long been puzzled as to why so many mothers suffer from post-partum depression, PPD.

PPD is depression which affects mothers of newborns, and symptoms can range from mild sadness – the “baby blues” up to the most severe form, post-partum psychosis, which is a very serious condition.

Up to 80 percent of women suffer from PPD to some extent. Many experience at least a few weeks of postpartum blues. 10-15 percent have depression that may last a month or more and a few percent experience severe psychosis that can last up, or even more than a year.

A study released this week from Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine seems to have identified the likely cause of PPD.

Here’s what the doctors think happens to cause PPD. It’s all to do with a chemical called serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that effects mood, and is known to cause depression when serotonin levels are unbalanced.

Serotonin also plays an important role during pregnancy. Serotonin in the mother’s blood supply plays an important role in helping nutrients and oxygen to get to the baby.

After the baby is born, serotonin levels in the mother’s blood start to rise, and interact with receptors in the now-empty uterus, stimulating production of another chemical called interleukin-1 beta. Interleukin-1 beta is involved in regulating the way the brain detects serotonin, and until the interleukin-1 beta levels return to normal, the mother’s brain doesn’t detect serotonin properly, resulting in depression.

The Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine has just received a federal grant to study more women, and hopefully prove their theory. If it turns out serotonin and Interleukin-1 beta are to blame, then treatments for PPD based on controlling levels of interleukin-1 beta in the blood may be life-changing for women who suffer from PPD.

• More information on PPD

Scientists in Australia have found that pregnant women who become depressed in the later stages of their pregnancy are more prone to postnatal depression. The results of the study were published online on April 18, 2008 in the open-access peer review journal, BMC Psychiatry.

The researchers, Dr. Bronwyn Leigh of Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Austin Health and Dr. Jeannette Milgrom of the University of Melbourne in Australia were able to identify seven major risk factors for the possibility of becoming depressed after giving birth. They noted that the main risk factor found in the study group of 367 pregnant women was late pregnancy depression. In addition they found that women who reported that they found parenting stressful were those who also suffered from postnatal depression.

The study group consisted of 367 pregnant women who completed a number of questionnaires when they were between 26 to 32 weeks pregnant. Of this number, 161 repeated the questionnaires between 10 and 12 weeks after giving birth.

The researchers wrote that ?Targeted interventions for antenatal and postnatal depression may reduce both the symptom severity and incidence of perinatal (before or around the time of giving birth) depression and assist in the amelioration or prevention of early parenting stress.?

Ultimately, the doctors found that by treating depression in pregnant women, it would minimize the risk of postnatal depression as well as help women cope better with the early stages of becoming a parent.

The study, according to Dr. Leigh and Dr. Milgrom, noted that most research and treatment of depression has been focused on postnatal depression, hence the major significance of their findings. While there have been research and even organizations dedicated to helping women and their families deal with perinatal depression, this research is one of the few that identifies so many of the risk factors. In addition, it will bring some exposure to a little known or discussed problem of pregnancy.

The results of the doctors? findings will definitely go a long way in helping to prevent or at least minimize the severity of post partum depression which will help millions worldwide deal with a difficult condition.

As someone with friends who have suffered from post partum depression and therefore did not truly enjoy their first few weeks or months of motherhood, this is welcome news.

Actress Gywneth Paltrow reveals in an interview for the May issue of Vogue magazine that she suffered from post partum depression following the birth of her second child. Two year old Moses was born in March 2006. The 35-year old multi award-winning actress said she didn?t know what was happening at the time and only realized she was suffering from the condition after she recovered.

According to the interview, Paltrow said “I felt really out of my body. I felt really disconnected. I felt really down? I felt pessimistic.” She believes she suffered from the condition because she stopped getting acupuncture when she was pregnant with Moses.

She and her husband, musician Chris Martin are also parents to four year old Apple, who was born on May 14, 2004. She did not reveal if she suffered any bouts of post partum depression following Apple?s birth.

The actress said in an article online that she has no immediate plans to add to her family right now because it?s hard being a mother. She also said that for her, pregnancy was also hard, especially because she was sick from start to finish.

Other celebrity moms who suffered from Post Partum

Actress Brook Shields? battle with post partum depression is well documented. Interestingly, talking about her condition and the treatment she received led to major arguments between Shields and actor Tom Cruise. Shield said she had to turn to medication, the anti-depressant, Paxil to overcome the condition. Cruise on the other hand strongly criticized her for using drugs.

Courtney Cox Arquette also suffered from post partum depression after giving birth to daughter Coco in 2005. Cox was treated with progesterone and credits that plus the support of friends for getting through. In a USA Today interview, the actress said that six months after giving birth she went through a stage where she couldn?t sleep and was really depressed.

During the early stages of her troubles, pop princess Britney Spears said that she was suffering from post partum depression.

Post partum depression can occur at any time during the first year after giving birth and not right after as some persons believe. A French study released earlier this year in the Journal of Clinical Nursing states that there is a link between the gender of the baby and developing post partum depression. In fact, the authors said that mothers who had boys were more likely to suffer from severe depression. The exception was in countries like China where having boys was preferred, hence a higher rate of post partum among women who had girls.