Understanding postpartum depression 

• If you have the baby blues, you might feel teary or overwhelmed. This usually passes within a few days and without specific care.
• If you have postpartum depression, you feel distressed, sad or overwhelmed most of the time – and have been for two weeks or more.

• Postpartum rage is often characterised by intense spells of anger, irritability, and aggression that occur in the weeks and months following childbirth.
• Postpartum anxiety is often characterised by excessive feelings of worry, fear and nervousness that interfere with a new parent’s daily routine. 

Addressing postpartum rage

• hormonal changes

• sleep deprivation

• the overwhelming responsibilities of parenting.

Coping with postpartum anxiety

• panic attacks

• constantly feeling irritable, restless or on edge
• having tense muscles, a tight chest, and heart palpitations 
• finding it difficult to relax 
• taking a long time to fall asleep at night. 

• interrupt your thoughts  
• interfere with daily tasks 
• stop you from going out with your baby 
• lead you to check on your baby constantly. 

• you’re still able to maintain a relatively positive view of yourself and your life, despite being tired all the time 
• you understand that sleep deprivation is temporary – things will improve 
• your mood improves when you’ve had some rest
• you can still get joy from some things in your life.

• you think about yourself and your life in a negative way (you say things like “I’m a failure”, “I’m doing a bad job”, “my life is terrible”) 
• you feel hopeless and can’t see how things will ever get better
• your thoughts and feelings remain unhelpful, even after getting some rest 
• you can’t get joy out of anything – even things you used to like.