> I know that many of you are Christians. My family could really use your prayer support right now. As you know, a son was born to us on March 14. Since then, my wife has fallen into a severe post-partum depression. The paperwork I have read on her condition calls it a "post partum mood disorder with psychotic features." She was admitted to a mental health facility this morning. This trial has been good for me, causing me to reevaluate my own life and relationship with both God and my wife. However, it is hard for me to see my wife in this condition. I've never had to face anything like this before, and I don't know how to deal with it. We need God's people to pray for us.

I realize this response is coming a little late :-), but I have kept you and your wife and Jonathon in my thoughts before God... I am happy to hear that Amy is now back at home, Grishny. Hopefully the worse crunch is past for you, and things will be better from hereon. I am only a neophyte at prayer, but I do know that prayer does work (I've seen two citations of double-blind scientific experiments by skeptics... which strongly suggested it *does* make a difference). And that which is healing to those who are being prayed for is also good for those who pray.


> If anyone else has ever been through something like this before, I welcome your experience and wisdom.

Well, I've been through the low of depression, but never PPD. I don't have kids, for one thing . But I can tell you what one of my close relatives says about it; she was trained as a midwife in the U.K. and also had PPD with her own children. I guess you know already that no one quite knows what causes this type of anguish, save that it's a reactive (situational) depression possibly in combination with some hormonal imbalance. Since it's situational it means, generally, that there's a very good chance for complete recovery. Good to know.

She (my relative) says that the shock of giving birth -- especially a difficult birth -- can leave mothers completely exhausted, emotionally and physically. At that point they literally can't feel anything positive for their newborns. Then they feel a bit guilty that they're not feeling the "normal" gamut of joy, maternal bonding, and instinctive protectiveness towards their babies. Add these fears of inadequacy to the abrupt stress of responsibility that comes with caring for a new baby, round the clock, and that makes for one heck of a potential depression. She says that in the old days, new mothers could stay in the hospital for a week after delivery, recuperating while surrounded by midwives -- and other experienced mothers -- who'd offer knowledgable assistance and reassurance. That one week period would also cover the time-period of the so-called maternal "Baby Blues", which usually occurs 3 to 4 days after birth... They'd help her overcome it, and assure the new mother that everything was fine. But nowadays of course, given our revolving-door healthcare system, we can expect that a primipara is sent home within 2 days, sometimes even from a Caesarian (which is a full-blown abdominal surgery!). I know I would feel anxious in that kind of situation.


> Gri"I feel so helpless"shny

I think the thing to remember is that whatever its cause, PPD has a good prognosis, and prayer helps. Something as devastating as heavy-duty PPD is not due to some fatal character weakness in any of you that precipitated it. We don't know why something so commonly experienced is also so counterproductive to raising a child... But this we do know; we're confident that she will get better. :-)

Wolfspirit