Postpartum Blues Research Paper

Words: 1005
Pages: 5

Pregnancy and childbirth are profoundly memorable and exciting moments for numerous women. Needless to say, these pivotal moments introduce new stressors into a mother’s life as she learns to adjust and accommodate her newborn. Postpartum blues, alternatively known as Adjustment Reaction with Depressed Mood, is a condition affecting 85% of women generally lasting for a few hours to 14 days after childbirth (Davidson et al., 2020). This condition is exclusively experienced by women who have given birth recently. It is essential to recognize postpartum blues as an issue, as it may escalate to other severe psychiatric disorders such as postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. The latter is considered an emergency due to the high risk of infanticide or suicide (Davidson et …show more content…
Postpartum women should understand that they might undergo transient emotions without an identifiable reason, but should still be able to function (Davidson et al., 2020). Moreover, common symptoms include sensations of irritability, being overwhelmed, fatigue, hypersensitivity, rapid mood shifts, insomnia, anxiety, and episodic tearfulness (Davidson et al., 2020). Diagnosing postpartum blues can prove challenging due to its lack of recognition as a diagnostic entity and the overlap of symptoms with postpartum depression (Viguera, 2023). Nevertheless, postpartum blues and postpartum depression are distinguished in that the diagnosis of postpartum depression requires specific criteria (Viguera, 2023). Postpartum depression necessitates the presence of a minimum of five symptoms persisting longer than 14 days, whereas postpartum blues does not have a set minimum amount and is self-limited (Viguera, 2023). Thus, postpartum depression may be considered if the patient does not meet the criteria for postpartum