Ivanka Trump’s Timing May Be Off, But More Women Need to Talk About Postpartum Depression

Today, Ivanka Trump, appearing on The Dr. Oz Show, spoke out about motherhood’s challenges by revealing she battled postpartum depression surrounding the births of each of her three children. Arriving just nine days before the Senate will likely vote on whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and in turn leave millions of women uninsured, the announcement has caused some to question the sensitivity of her timing. But there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on: the need to call awareness to this insidious mental health condition, which effects an estimated half million moms in the United States.
Trump joins a chorus of prominent women such as Chrissy Teigen, Adele, Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Brooke Shields, who are helping to shake off the stigma of perinatal mood disorders that can accompany pregnancy, and the early stages of motherhood, for a staggering one in nine women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet the overwhelmingly common condition remains misunderstood and underdiagnosed—with treatment hanging in the balance for women at risk of losing health care and access to Planned Parenthood under the Graham-Cassidy bill. The good news? There are communities popping up all over the U.S. that care about the well-being of new and soon-to-be mothers, from Loom in L.A., a community which aims to create a support network for new mothers and their partners from pregnancy onward through classes, events, and coaching, to the Motherhood Center of New York, an innovative facility that focuses on preventative care through daylong treatment programs, individual and group therapy counseling sessions, and exercise, while providing child care to patients at its in-house nursery. Here, a look at postpartum’s causes and risk factors, as well as a slew of preventative measures that can help.
The Red Flags and What They MeanPregnancy triggers a massive range of emotions, and the transition from the delivery room to 24-hour newborn care is a sea change for anyone. But feelings of depression, anxiety, or withdrawal that last longer than two weeks is a red flag, according to UCLA’s Psychology Clinic director, Danielle Keenan-Miller, Ph.D. She says that after the baby arrives, women’s hormone levels—namely estradiol and progesterone—plummet, triggering depression for some, though everyday stressors can also cause postpartum. “Major life transitions, stress, limited sleep, social isolation, low financial resources, poor romantic relationships—the things that cause depression in our lives in general also bring on postpartum,” says Keenan-Miller. And while most symptoms range from deepening depression to intensifying anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder, a rare few women develop postpartum psychosis—leading to delusions or hallucinations.

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