Postpartum Depression Nursing Diagnoses

Anxiety r/t new parenting responsibilities AEB verbalization of anxiety, difficulty sleeping, restlessness.

Fatigue r/t postpartum state AEB lack of energy, exhaustion, irritability.

Ineffective role performance r/t new parenting responsibilities AEB not responding to baby crying, not making eye contact with the baby.

Postpartum Support Groups

There are many important elements to facilitating an effective support group for postpartum depression. One of the first things that is crucial for a facilitator to establish is a culture that invites the sharing of difficult, potentially taboo subjects. Cara Fairfax, a social worker who has been running her own support group for folks with postpartum depression talks about how it is important to establish mandatory reporter guidelines so women know that they can share many things without loosing their child to child protective services. To a postpartum mother struggling with suicidal or homicidal ideation, they may feel they have to carry that burden themselves for fear of losing their child. It is important to allow women to have a space to share feelings of regret, anger towards their child, fear about losing their relationship and difficulty with sex and intimacy postpartum, and also suicidal and homicidal ideation.

Taboo subjects are not only emotional either. The physical symptoms postpartum mothers experience often are considered shameful or inappropriate to talk about, such as leaking breasts, hemorrhoids, and loss of bladder control. Being able to share these symptoms makes it so women feel less shame and instead experience camaraderie with other people experiencing the same things as them.

It is important to choose a good location for the support group. Addrienne Griffin talks about her postpartum support group and talks about how important it has been for her to host her group at a hospital. This is good because women who have given birth at that hospital already know about their group. Also, the hospital advertises for them in their publication and on their website. Griffin talked about how hosting it at a hospital was helpful because there are other postpartum resources operating in the hospital, such as breastfeeding classes. The classes and groups in the hospital formed good rapport with each other. They made sure to reach out to the folks receiving services from them and suggest other classes and resources from the hospital to them.

  

Apps for Postpartum Depression

 Postpartum depression presents a challenging set of experiences for any new mother, and the more support she can get, the better. There are many apps that can assist new mothers who are experiencing postpartum depression.

Start- This is an app where a person can track their depression medication along with their symptoms and response to the medication. Depression medication takes time to be effective, so it is important to track a person's progress to see if they are responding in an effective way to their medication.

http://www.iodine.com/start/postpartum

Optimism- This app allows people to track their mood and allows planning for coping strategies such as diet, exercise, and relaxation techniques. This is helpful because it allows people to track patterns in their mood and pick out possible triggers for certain feelings.

http://www.findingoptimism.com/

Sleep Genius- This app plays relaxing music that is designed to facilitate deep and restful sleep. Since changing sleep patterns and insomnia play a significant role in postpartum depression, this could be a very helpful resource for new mothers.

http://sleepgenius.com/

Beyond Blue Check In App- This app is designed for the support system of someone experiencing mental illness. This app helps a person design a conversation they can have with a person they love who is going through a difficult time or a mental health crisis. It provides them with resources they could suggest for their loved one and lets them report back how their conversation went.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about-us/about-our-work/youthbeyondblue/the-check-in-app

Breathe- This app measures your heart-rate through the camera in your phone. Then, through breathing techniques, helps you lower your breathing and heart rate. Feelings of anxiety often accompany postpartum depression, so this could be an important tool in lowering ones stress levels.

http://au.reachout.com/reachout-breathe-app

Here is a link to a buzzfeed article with a list of general mental health apps that I found to be helpful.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/amazing-apps-for-anyone-living-with-anxiety#.fm06DRej4

And here is one more.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolaharvey/courage-is-knowing-what-not-to-fear#.vsLG48wJP

Postpartum Depression Websites

Postpartum depression is not an easy thing to navigate. It is essential that those battling postpartum depression receive support from others and utilize the resources available to them. The internet, though not without its fair share of faulty information, can be an excellent resource. There are websites that provide reliable, well-researched information in a way that is accessible and easy to understand, as well as websites that connect people struggling with postpartum depression to create a supportive online community. 

One of the most popular blogs dealing with maternal mental illness is postpartumprogress.com. The website functions primarily as a blog but also has a lot of very helpful information and resources on it such as: descriptions of signs and symptoms, information about treatment and support groups, books on PPD, discussion forums, and answers to common questions about PPD.

Another blog that offers a lot of good general information about postpartum depression is www.1800ppdmoms.org. This website isn’t quite as expansive as the first website mentioned but offers a good overview of the PPD basics on its homepage. A highlight of this site is that it dedicates a section to debunking a few common PPD myths.

There are a number of other websites offering various amounts and kinds of information. Some of these are:

www.marchofdimes.org

www.womensmentalhealth.org

www.womenshealth.gov

www.cdc.gov

While the internet is a good source for general information about postpartum depression, it should by no means be considered your ultimate authority. Information should first come from health professionals and the internet should be used to reenforce or round out information relayed by specialists, and even then, taken with a grain of salt. Above all, the internet provides an excellent platform from which to meet other people going through similar struggles, learn from each other, and build a supportive community.