Symptoms: Self-worth

Maternal mental illnesses — whether prenatal or postpartum, whether depression, anxiety, psychosis or something else — tends to take a toll on one’s self-worth, even if their self-worth was through the roof beforehand.

Someone who may have had a high self-esteem earlier in life may find themselves thinking negatively about themselves. It can manifest in thoughts such as:

• I’m not a good mom
• I’m not a good wife
• I am un-loveable
• I can’t do anything right
• I’m always messing up
• My husband will never find me attractive again
• No one wants to spend time with me
• No one cares
• I don’t matter anymore

It is understandable why new mom’s may be feeling this way. Our bodies go through so many changes, often-times new mom’s loose friends when they have their own child and their friends do not, mom’s may struggle to cope with the new responsibilities. However, PPD/A tends to enhance these feelings.

Why It’s a Problem

These feelings tend to make a new mom with-drawl from their community even more, which can enhance the downward spiral of depression. It can also trigger other symptoms such as crying spells, self-harm or suicidal thoughts.

HOW TO COMBAT

• TALK. Tell someone how you are feeling. Getting it out helps tremendously. Even better if it is someone that knows you well enough to speak truth to those lies. YOU ARE VALUABLE. YOU ARE WORTHY. Having someone in your life who can constantly speak that truth to you is extremely helpful.
• WRITE. Something I did was get a little artistic with it and it really helped me to clear the negative thoughts from my heart. If they were on paper then they were not taking space in my heart. I sketched a picture of a girl sitting cross-legged and crying. It took up an entire page. On the inside of the girl (her arms, legs, torso, face, etc) I wrote things that I was thinking of myself. On the outside, I wrote things that others had said of me (or things I thought they were saying). I kept this paper for a long time and was just constantly adding to it. Above is a very early version of it.
• CRY IT OUT- You know! It’s totally okay to cry! But remind yourself in those times that you are loved still. Here is a link to a song that I was listening to during those dark moments when I felt particularly unloveable– I pulled this song out so many times and sang along to it through my tears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myP9Mvs1sOk

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**I am not a medical professional. I am just speaking from my personal experience. Please speak to your doctor**