I wished I would’ve found my wife help sooner. I’m taking care of our two children now while she is involuntarily being held on Florida’s Baker Act. 72 hours and she still isn’t home. The state is recommending a state hospital. I hope she gets better before this happens! Please pray for me, my family, and my wife!
Scott, I rarely check this site. I hope she is better by now. You should know that when she fully recovers, there are Facebook support groups now for women who have suffered from this (and those close to them) to connect. This can help to get over the emotional trauma from having had this illness.
Teresa Twomey Thanks for your reply! My wife is stablizing at a women’s inpatient facility in Clearwater now. She should be coming home soon. Thanks for bringing awareness to this condition it was really helpful to learn what my wife is going through. I will mention the FB groups also. Thanks!
Thank you so much for your courage to increase awareness. My wife suffered from postpartum psychosis and it has been devastating. My hope is to also increase awareness, particularly to help men understand and support their wives.
What courage! I love that you address the issue that many women with PPP don't harm their child but are truly traumatized by the psychotic episode and experience ongoing anxiety that it could happen again. Thanks.
Sadly, because of the Andrea Yates case; we as society believe that if a mother develops Postpartum Psychosis after giving birth, she will inevitably snap from losing her sanity and try to kill the infant. In reality; women who develop any sort of Postpartum mental illness are more likely to try and kill themselves instead of their children. This explains why we as society are not witnessing an infanticide epidemic in women who have become mothers.
@@michaellovely6601 postpartum psychosis has a 5% suicide and 4% infanticide rate, sounds like you're lumping it into postpartum mood disorders as a whole, which I find unhelpful. PPP is a medical emergency, and often involves delusions about the child. After experiencing my wife put herself and my child in danger, I don't think there is any room to leave things up to chance. Andrea Yates is just a shock piece that got a lot of attention, too bad it wasn't awareness that it brought.
@@Liynkx You and Michael Lovely are both correct that women with any PMAD, including PPP are more likely to attempt to take their own lives. Unfortunately this is often because they fear they will hurt the child and sensationalism of cases like that of Andrea Yates does not help that. However, I would never say that "Andrea Yates is just a shock piece" - in fact, her case emphasizes your point, Eric, that these women should not be left alone. The doctor's advice to Andrea's husband to leave her alone with the kids to snap her out of it is the exact opposite of the advice he should have given. I wish they'd sued him for malpractice. Furthermore, much awareness -- and other advances -- were spurred by her case. Not the least of which is my own advocacy. Before her case broke, I'd planned to keep my experience a secret. I had too much to lose by going public. However, after what happened to her I realized someone who hadn't hurt their child really needed to speak up. I wrote the first survey book on PPP, did this-the first TEDx talk on it, created the first FB support group, was instrumental in starting the first national taskforce to address it, and more. Not to toot my own horn, but had it not been for my advocacy, we would be far behind where we are - and my advocacy was spurred by the Andrea Yates tragedy.
@@teresatwomey8029Actually, Rusty Yates was told by Andrea's doctors to never under any circumstances leave her home alone with the kids, keep her supervised and medicated and make sure she was sticking to her medication regiment. Though after the tragedy but before Andrea stood trial; Rusty sat down for an interview on "60 Minutes" and acted like he was not even partially at fault for contributing to Andrea's downward spiral, claiming that if she had been receiving competent psychiatric care their children would still be alive today.
you are so awesome! thanks for sharing your story, this illness is so underreported. I had more of the PPD during pregnancy and some OCD after delivery. I suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum during my first pregnancy and voluntarily hospitalized myself in psychiatric hospital because my family and ob/GYN were clueless to the imbalance I was suffering. God bless you for your work to increase awareness to this very real condition.
How awful for you. I am glad you found this helpful. And yes, there are so many aspects to pregnancy whose identification, diagnosis, and treatment are still in their infancy.
So proud of you, Teresa! I agree with you completely about the need for better awareness and education surrounding women's mental health issues, specifically postpartum psychosis. I applaud you for bravely sharing your story to help others. I write about my experience for the same reasons. If we help just one family then it is most certainly worth it. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your story and raising awareness. I had PPP last August 2023 9 weeks after having my 2nd daughter. It came completely out of the blue, and I wasn’t aware it could happen to me! I make sure I speak about it now to anyone, and I’m open about my experience in the hope it raises awareness of the condition. I hope things change here in the UK, and that the NHS start to warn women of mental health imbalance post birth. We get tests for Down’s Syndrome, but nothing about mental health imbalance and where to get help. Becoming a parent is so common place that it is not thought about as the most difficult thing someone can do! Especially mothers because along with other caregivers, they are the foundation of raising children and future leaders of the world!
Thank you so much for sharing. You truly are such a beautiful soul. I felt your pain i cried with you hun! The female mind is so powerful its truly unfair what we have to go through mentally
What an insightful talk! As a midwife student I want my thesis to be about postpartum mental/mood disorders like psychosis and depression. No woman should be going through such things alone and doctors need to stop shrugging these off as ''rare occurences''. A little bit of insight can make mothers seek help sooner. I hope to purchase your book as soon as it is available in my country.
@@sakkakuh7112 if you have public libraries, you might be able to request that your library obtain one. Or, if your hospitals have libraries, that might be a possibility as well.
I just came back from a funeral of a good friend unfortunately the outcome was tragic and she ended up killing her 6 month old baby and then trying to kill herself she was found just in time by her husband and airlifted to hospital with severe life threatening injuries she was in ICU for 3 weeks She is recovering well physically but lord knows emotionally and mentally she has a long road ahead When I hugged her today at the funeral she felt so small so fragile and so helpless my heart broke into a million pieces This friend is also a health care worker and just goes to show psychosis does not segregate it can happen to anyone
I'm so sorry for you and your friend's loss. I thought it was interesting that you said she is a healthcare worker. This is because the woman that is on trial for killing her 3 kids and trying to kill herself was a labor delivery nurse a healthcare worker herself. My best friend came very close to this. She had thoughts and visions of harming her son. We were only 18 at the time 20 years ago. She recognized it and told me. She checked herself in the hospital and she was there for a month. She is a nurse. I wonder if the type of personality women in healthcare have like being caring, empathetic, and helpful are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety and others. Again, I'm so sorry for you and your friend's loss. She's blessed to have you.
Thank you so much Teresa Twomey. I am so sorry for what you have been through. Thanks for talking about Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) is a very rare , serious mental health condition that need emergency help and this illness doesn’t choose who you are . We need to prepare. I like that you mentioned that women need to seek help and need to be educated , also the spouses friends and family need to be educated also the professional health providers as well so they know how to treat the women/ moms when they seek for help. And the help will be available. Thanks for sharing your story and the famous story of Andrea Yates that opened my eyes that PPP has hallucinations and delusions and moms could harm themselves and their babies even it is very rare but it was happening when Andrea Yates killed all her 5 children by drowning then in her bathtub at her home. This was such a horrible and such a tragic events. It could be prevented if the women/ moms recognise the signs and symptoms. This tragic could be prevented if moms and her spouses , family and friends have a broad education and training what to do and to prepare if they have postpartum psychosis and seek the help immediately , get the right treatments May be seek help with psychiatrist , professional medical doctors , psychotherapy and the rights medication will help to speed up the recovery and prevent for another episodes to come. Thank God that you are completely healed. There is hope and healing for postpartum psychosis. It is treatable and preventable. Most important, get help immediately the moment moms/ women see the signs and symptoms of postpartum psychosis. What a great lesson from this TED talk. Once again thank you so much ,Theresa Townes for sharing your story and helping other moms and to let them know that they are not alone. Friends and family and support group can help them through. I am so happy that you wrote a book “ Understanding Postpartum Psychosis: A Temporary Madness Book. I would recommend your books to anyone. It is very helpful. I am using your book as one of my sources for my Exploring Mental Health Psychology class at DMACC with my Prof.Anthony Stevens. I just finished writing my research paper with the title “ why educating moms on postpartum psychosis is so important “ right now. Thanks for the you tube video and for writing the book. I will share your TED Talk on my Facebook. Hope everyone can learn and can help other moms who have signs and symptoms of postpartum of postpartum psychosis. May God bless you abundantly,❤️😇
Thank you, Mary. I take it from your comment that you are a student. I am glad you are taking the time to help to spread the word. Education is SO important. (I would love to see your paper, BTW.)
I myself married and my wife suffered thru this we had to keep her protected and also our baby. Thank God to family! Woman going thru this need alot of suppport. My heart also grieves for those who keep quiet and don't ask for help.
Although I have responded to comments here, this is NOT the best way to reach me or to reach help. And if you or someone you know may be suffering, local emergency services may be the best immediate action.
I tried helping my wife to seek help when I googled the symptoms and found out she was suffering from ppp. She won't listen or agree to seek help. She was dillusional and hallucinating all the time. I took her the phsychiatrist but she would lie denying the facts that she was sick. Then she tried to take the kids from me and move away with them calling the police on me and accusing me of assaulting her. I had to go to court to get my kids back because she put them in a shelter and was not feeding them or taking them to school. The judge would not authorize mental health check. Her doctor won't help because she denied the symptoms. I was successful in getting full custody of the kids but she still is holed up in a women shelter and cut herself off from relatives. It has been a year and half since
I'm in a similar situation, luckily my wife was forced to get help when she drove halfway across the country with my child and got into a minor accident. She had a full on psychotic break and had to be removed from the vehicle and sedated. After 2 weeks in the psych ward she is home, but in denial and being stubborn on treatment. I can tell the road to recovery will be long. They seem to isolate, I think sometimes forcing them to do something is the only way. This condition wrecked our lives, I feel like I missed some early signs, but in a way I wonder if things would've been worse if she thought I was going to take our child away. I still think there is no near enough awareness. I'm someone who spent many hours researching things about parenting, and for something so serious, PPP never came up.
@@Liynkx I hear ya. Your situation mirrors mine to the details. The first time this happened the police and medical emergency personnel had to force her to the phsychiatric ward where she sent 2 weeks. However she tricked me into thinking things were normal. She never took the medications. She would have episodes where she would isolate herself and blame me and other people for everything. The recovery is long but successful if they would take their medication. My life is wrecked as it is. I can't even take my kids to the nearest town for vacation or fun because of court conditions but at the same time she doesn't contribute anything to their lives. Women say the situation is bad for them but I believe it is worse for the husband and kids involved. Stay strong for your child is all I can say
@@fataheyable Having her accept help is my challenge now. Luckily I have been documenting and building a case with how she has kept my daughter away from me.
@@Liynkx and Gure jr. My heart breaks for both of you - and your wives - and your children - and your families. This illness is devastating in so many ways. I hope (and it seems) that you can see that it isn't her fault. One issue can be that what is hallucinated often seems so real that our minds and emotions attach to it as if it were, even after we are well. It is bizarre. I STILL cry when I talk about the hallucination about killing my daughter - because somewhere inside me it still feels like a memory of something that happened, not just an image in my mind. I have so much respect and admiration for men who stand by their wives - even as their wives make them the "bad guy" or even after their wife hurts or kills a child. I love my husband, but we have talked about this - he doesn't think he would have stood by me given what we knew at the time. It makes him queasy even now when I talk about women who do hurt their children--because he knows it could have been me and our child. Our laws and policies, coupled with system-wide ignorance really fail so many families dealing with psychosis (perinatal and otherwise). I hope things can still turn around for each of you one day. Your life may seem wrecked now, but I know families who have been through some of the worst trials who have finally turned it around. God bless you both.
I hope the DA that is prosecuting Lindsay Clancy will watch this video and educate herself before she makes this ill woman become a monster in the public and throw her away for the rest of her life instead of getting the help she so desperately was trying to get
I'm a bit worried about this... I have these thoughts all the time about my family, I'm paranoid about my family being in car accidents, I think of my nephew sometimes falling off or I just imagine bad things and it terrifies me. I'm pregnant and having my baby soon and I don't know how I will react now that I know this actually happens...
+starfire Please talk to you OB about your concerns. It might be that you simply have the OCD anxiety disorder. Either way - all perinatal mood disorders are treatable. The BEST thing to do is to have full, early and open communication with your doctors and create an informed network of support around yourself. There are many good books and other information. Go to www.postpartum.net for more information and to see what is available.
My wife going through ppp and having loranzapine with sideeffects.any idea how long does it take to get over with,also if there is anything better than that "medicine" ?
I rarely check these comments, so I hope that this is distant history for you. That said, for others who may read this: That is a far longer answer than I could write here. I'd suggest talking to her doctor.
I am currently recovering from this. It is really hard. I'd like someone to release a video talking about their recovery journey to give me hope in mine. I'm 7 months in and some days I just feel like I can't do it anymore.
Don't give up. It takes time to recover. My ppp was very bad, i was long in psychiatry, it took me one and a half years to recover at home. But now I'm better than ever. And my child is the best gift!
My PPP has been catastrophic. I also had CPTSD, depression, and anxiety on top of it all. I very seriously could have hurt my children and family, and I wanted to die last year. That being said, relationships are being repaired, slowly, but surely. I didn’t trust anyone. So I isolated myself from people around me. About 9 months into trauma therapy, it was like a switch flipped in my brain and I realized that I’d been delusional. I felt like everyone around me I loved had died and and I was grieving that loss. They were all still alive, but I was physically separated from them. I am finally starting to feel things other than just being numb or depressed and anxious. Some days I wonder if I’m still delusional, and it’s scary to think it could happen again, but God is with me in this, and I know that I’ll come out stronger on the other side of this mess.
@@Elya08 you will get through it. I'm now back at work and loving my baby living a normal life. It really is tough but hopefully soon it will just be a part of your life you can have in the rear view mirror
Sorry for the delay - rarely on here. There are many ways to increase awareness. For example, you can talk to politicians, write your story and share it, talk with groups, support organizations like APP and PSI who work to increase awareness. Share things that you read about it or see with others. I WILL say that 1) please be sure you share as ACCURATE information as possible and 2) know that not everyone will understand - as a now-popular phrase goes "haters gonna hate" and that is true when advocating regarding mental health issues as well. Thank you for your interest.
It really is awful. If you had an underlying but undiagnosed disorder, or if postpartum was the precipitating element of your disorder, that makes the lack of (and delay of) diagnosis particularly unconscionable. I hope you are going well now.
I appreciate what your saying But y cant men feel like this in a slite way. I'm old school but yet I felt like this n I felt less of a person because of this. I wudnt change n e thing for the world cuz my son is the going to b the best thing that happen to me n is going to change this world for the better in anything that he wants to. U can ignore my comment n I really don't mind but your son or daughter will prove u wrong n I will b glad of it when they give me the life saving treatment. Weather it b mentally or physically. This day n age we need to understand that pressures can affect us all coz so much is affects us from judgement n prejudice no matter how ppl perceive us . We have our own styles but ultimately it's what we do for our kids that define us.
I am not sure I fully understand your comment, so I will address what it seems to be. I do think that some men can experience something like PPP - but only in a limited way. That is, I do think that extreme lack of sleep can cause severe problems in some people - particularly those with certain underlying issues. And this often is a contributing factor for women who have PPP. However, the hormonal aspect, the waxing and waning, and the suddenness of onset are likely different in women vs. men. And those are often extremely critical aspects of this illness.
I hope you have had the opportunity to connect with other survivors. If not, there are some groups on FB. I am so sorry that you have gone through this. I hope seeing that you are not alone has helped.
+Jalon McKinnon Have you been able to get her help? Postpartum Support International (www.postpartum.net) and Action on Postpartum Psychosis in the UK are two of the best organizations to turn to for information.
Safety first, make sure the mother sees her baby often and performs any tasks that she is capable of like feeding or holding the baby, but with someone around. Medication is usually necessary. Sleep is one of the biggest problems, a lot of times the mother will have to be separated from the child, at least at night.
@@noeschkavanderkraan5926No! The mom shouldn’t be seeing her baby during her psychosis because she could have thoughts and intentions to hurt her baby. Seeing her baby and taking care of it lacks sleep. But yes I agree that medication and sleep is necessary.
Just seeing this now, but had to LOL. At about the same time of this comment, I gave a talk to a group and one of the doctors there said that he thought I knew more about PPP than most medical professionals (which is something I've heard several times before). I look forward to when that is no longer the case. But I do take the point here. This is not a medical presentation about best practices of care or particular physiology that can contribute or medical protocols or use of particular medications. I can only say that if you are interested in the medical aspect for professional reasons, I hope you are ALSO interested in survivor accounts and public-health issues regarding the illness.
@@teresatwomey8029 Yeah don't get me wrong, and I appreciate the comment, the more people are exposed to this topic the better; it can only lead to a more group centric emotional balance. We all as humans hope to achieve a world where we do not experience trauma, let alone at the miracle of childbirth. My point only was that for a TED talk, I expecting to hear a specifically chemical/biological explanation... at least that's what I idly thought 3 years ago when I wrote it, not really considering anything other than my opinion at the time.
@@AinsleyHarriott1 Just seeing this now. And I agree, I'd love to see a professional present on chemical/biological explanation. Unfortunately, to my understanding (based on reading a lot of research and talking with a lot of survivors) is that this is not one distinct illness (although the EXPERIENCE of it tends to share dominant features). That is, there are many potential causes of psychosis in the postpartum period that are causally linked to the birth and that share a common set of symptoms and risks. I believe one day we will be able to identify somewhere between six to a dozen different contributing causes for psychosis linked to pregnancy or postpartum that we can put generally under the label "postpartum psychosis" (or more accurately, "perinatal psychosis).
@@pinktenshi100 Please don't insult people here. Boyo Bird has a valid complaint. I did have a stigmatized view of mental illness and that can certainly be harmful in many ways. That is one of the reasons I DO say it. An unpleasant truth. Finding it hurtful does not make someone a snow flake.
I think she was just trying to show how much stigma there is around PPP, and how even she thought back then a thing like that would never happen to her because she was educated, healthy etc.
I wished I would’ve found my wife help sooner. I’m taking care of our two children now while she is involuntarily being held on Florida’s Baker Act. 72 hours and she still isn’t home. The state is recommending a state hospital. I hope she gets better before this happens! Please pray for me, my family, and my wife!
Scott, I rarely check this site. I hope she is better by now. You should know that when she fully recovers, there are Facebook support groups now for women who have suffered from this (and those close to them) to connect. This can help to get over the emotional trauma from having had this illness.
Teresa Twomey Thanks for your reply! My wife is stablizing at a women’s inpatient facility in Clearwater now. She should be coming home soon. Thanks for bringing awareness to this condition it was really helpful to learn what my wife is going through. I will mention the FB groups also. Thanks!
Hate those Baker Acts
Thank you so much for your courage to increase awareness. My wife suffered from postpartum psychosis and it has been devastating. My hope is to also increase awareness, particularly to help men understand and support their wives.
YES!! We need more activist husbands raising awareness! Thank You!!
can i have your email address , i have some questions i would love to ask
Agreed! I wished I would’ve known more about this sooner. I might could’ve got her help sooner.
What an incredibly brave woman you are. Absolutely inspiring. Thank you for bringing awareness to this really important problem.
What courage! I love that you address the issue that many women with PPP don't harm their child but are truly traumatized by the psychotic episode and experience ongoing anxiety that it could happen again. Thanks.
wallinluna , so do I
Sadly, because of the Andrea Yates case; we as society believe that if a mother develops Postpartum Psychosis after giving birth, she will inevitably snap from losing her sanity and try to kill the infant. In reality; women who develop any sort of Postpartum mental illness are more likely to try and kill themselves instead of their children. This explains why we as society are not witnessing an infanticide epidemic in women who have become mothers.
@@michaellovely6601 postpartum psychosis has a 5% suicide and 4% infanticide rate, sounds like you're lumping it into postpartum mood disorders as a whole, which I find unhelpful. PPP is a medical emergency, and often involves delusions about the child. After experiencing my wife put herself and my child in danger, I don't think there is any room to leave things up to chance. Andrea Yates is just a shock piece that got a lot of attention, too bad it wasn't awareness that it brought.
@@Liynkx You and Michael Lovely are both correct that women with any PMAD, including PPP are more likely to attempt to take their own lives. Unfortunately this is often because they fear they will hurt the child and sensationalism of cases like that of Andrea Yates does not help that. However, I would never say that "Andrea Yates is just a shock piece" - in fact, her case emphasizes your point, Eric, that these women should not be left alone. The doctor's advice to Andrea's husband to leave her alone with the kids to snap her out of it is the exact opposite of the advice he should have given. I wish they'd sued him for malpractice. Furthermore, much awareness -- and other advances -- were spurred by her case. Not the least of which is my own advocacy. Before her case broke, I'd planned to keep my experience a secret. I had too much to lose by going public. However, after what happened to her I realized someone who hadn't hurt their child really needed to speak up. I wrote the first survey book on PPP, did this-the first TEDx talk on it, created the first FB support group, was instrumental in starting the first national taskforce to address it, and more. Not to toot my own horn, but had it not been for my advocacy, we would be far behind where we are - and my advocacy was spurred by the Andrea Yates tragedy.
@@teresatwomey8029Actually, Rusty Yates was told by Andrea's doctors to never under any circumstances leave her home alone with the kids, keep her supervised and medicated and make sure she was sticking to her medication regiment. Though after the tragedy but before Andrea stood trial; Rusty sat down for an interview on "60 Minutes" and acted like he was not even partially at fault for contributing to Andrea's downward spiral, claiming that if she had been receiving competent psychiatric care their children would still be alive today.
you are so awesome! thanks for sharing your story, this illness is so underreported. I had more of the PPD during pregnancy and some OCD after delivery. I suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum during my first pregnancy and voluntarily hospitalized myself in psychiatric hospital because my family and ob/GYN were clueless to the imbalance I was suffering. God bless you for your work to increase awareness to this very real condition.
Omg same here! OCD, ppd, hyperemesis, Except I did not have hospital treatment I wish I had
How awful for you. I am glad you found this helpful. And yes, there are so many aspects to pregnancy whose identification, diagnosis, and treatment are still in their infancy.
You are a brave woman! Thanks for your courage 💕
Thank you.
So proud of you, Teresa! I agree with you completely about the need for better awareness and education surrounding women's mental health issues, specifically postpartum psychosis. I applaud you for bravely sharing your story to help others. I write about my experience for the same reasons. If we help just one family then it is most certainly worth it. Thank you.
I have worked in the mental health field for over a decade and always share this information with my clients
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your story and raising awareness. I had PPP last August 2023 9 weeks after having my 2nd daughter. It came completely out of the blue, and I wasn’t aware it could happen to me!
I make sure I speak about it now to anyone, and I’m open about my experience in the hope it raises awareness of the condition.
I hope things change here in the UK, and that the NHS start to warn women of mental health imbalance post birth. We get tests for Down’s Syndrome, but nothing about mental health imbalance and where to get help.
Becoming a parent is so common place that it is not thought about as the most difficult thing someone can do! Especially mothers because along with other caregivers, they are the foundation of raising children and future leaders of the world!
Thank you so much for being so much that you are thinking about others before yourself. Praying for my daughter thank you for sharing
Thank you so much for sharing. You truly are such a beautiful soul. I felt your pain i cried with you hun! The female mind is so powerful its truly unfair what we have to go through mentally
🤗
Sharing this in my Public Health class :) your message is heard and respected! xo
Thank you!
Thank God for you! Thank you thank you thank you for your words.
💖
What an insightful talk! As a midwife student I want my thesis to be about postpartum mental/mood disorders like psychosis and depression. No woman should be going through such things alone and doctors need to stop shrugging these off as ''rare occurences''. A little bit of insight can make mothers seek help sooner. I hope to purchase your book as soon as it is available in my country.
What country are you in?
@@teresatwomey8029 I am in Greece
@@sakkakuh7112 if you have public libraries, you might be able to request that your library obtain one. Or, if your hospitals have libraries, that might be a possibility as well.
Thank you for being brave to talk about it.
I just came back from a funeral of a good friend unfortunately the outcome was tragic and she ended up killing her 6 month old baby and then trying to kill herself she was found just in time by her husband and airlifted to hospital with severe life threatening injuries she was in ICU for 3 weeks
She is recovering well physically but lord knows emotionally and mentally she has a long road ahead
When I hugged her today at the funeral she felt so small so fragile and so helpless my heart broke into a million pieces
This friend is also a health care worker and just goes to show psychosis does not segregate it can happen to anyone
I'm so sorry for you and your friend's loss. I thought it was interesting that you said she is a healthcare worker. This is because the woman that is on trial for killing her 3 kids and trying to kill herself was a labor delivery nurse a healthcare worker herself. My best friend came very close to this. She had thoughts and visions of harming her son. We were only 18 at the time 20 years ago. She recognized it and told me. She checked herself in the hospital and she was there for a month. She is a nurse. I wonder if the type of personality women in healthcare have like being caring, empathetic, and helpful are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety and others. Again, I'm so sorry for you and your friend's loss. She's blessed to have you.
God Bless Teresa!
Thank you!
Thank you so much Teresa Twomey. I am so sorry for what you have been through. Thanks for talking about Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) is a very rare , serious mental health condition that need emergency help and this illness doesn’t choose who you are . We need to prepare. I like that you mentioned that women need to seek help and need to be educated , also the spouses friends and family need to be educated also the professional health providers as well so they know how to treat the women/ moms when they seek for help. And the help will be available. Thanks for sharing your story and the famous story of Andrea Yates that opened my eyes that PPP has hallucinations and delusions and moms could harm themselves and their babies even it is very rare but it was happening when Andrea Yates killed all her 5 children by drowning then in her bathtub at her home. This was such a horrible and such a tragic events. It could be prevented if the women/ moms recognise the signs and symptoms. This tragic could be prevented if moms and her spouses , family and friends have a broad education and training what to do and to prepare if they have postpartum psychosis and seek the help immediately , get the right treatments May be seek help with psychiatrist , professional medical doctors , psychotherapy and the rights medication will help to speed up the recovery and prevent for another episodes to come. Thank God that you are completely healed. There is hope and healing for postpartum psychosis. It is treatable and preventable. Most important, get help immediately the moment moms/ women see the signs and symptoms of postpartum psychosis. What a great lesson from this TED talk. Once again thank you so much ,Theresa Townes for sharing your story and helping other moms and to let them know that they are not alone. Friends and family and support group can help them through. I am so happy that you wrote a book “ Understanding Postpartum Psychosis: A Temporary Madness Book. I would recommend your books to anyone. It is very helpful. I am using your book as one of my sources for my Exploring Mental Health Psychology class at DMACC with my Prof.Anthony Stevens. I just finished writing my research paper with the title “ why educating moms on postpartum psychosis is so important “ right now. Thanks for the you tube video and for writing the book. I will share your TED Talk on my Facebook. Hope everyone can learn and can help other moms who have signs and symptoms of postpartum of postpartum psychosis. May God bless you abundantly,❤️😇
Thank you, Mary. I take it from your comment that you are a student. I am glad you are taking the time to help to spread the word. Education is SO important. (I would love to see your paper, BTW.)
you are so brave! thank u so much we love you teresa!
Thank you!
yes we were able to get her the help she needed
Scary issue..... Brave lady....
Thank you.
I myself married and my wife suffered thru this we had to keep her protected and also our baby. Thank God to family! Woman going thru this need alot of suppport. My heart also grieves for those who keep quiet and don't ask for help.
David Reyes what were her signs !
I am so sorry -- this really can be h@!! for husbands and families. I hope you and she are doing well now.
Yes I also went thru this, and you explained it SO well.. I thank you for your Journey Queen✨💋
Thank you!
Although I have responded to comments here, this is NOT the best way to reach me or to reach help. And if you or someone you know may be suffering, local emergency services may be the best immediate action.
Yes, a woman still suffering from that since the past 30years. Any help? She is in Nigeria
thank you for sharing your experience xo
I wish I knew how to put a heart emoji here.
I tried helping my wife to seek help when I googled the symptoms and found out she was suffering from ppp. She won't listen or agree to seek help. She was dillusional and hallucinating all the time. I took her the phsychiatrist but she would lie denying the facts that she was sick. Then she tried to take the kids from me and move away with them calling the police on me and accusing me of assaulting her. I had to go to court to get my kids back because she put them in a shelter and was not feeding them or taking them to school. The judge would not authorize mental health check. Her doctor won't help because she denied the symptoms. I was successful in getting full custody of the kids but she still is holed up in a women shelter and cut herself off from relatives. It has been a year and half since
I'm in a similar situation, luckily my wife was forced to get help when she drove halfway across the country with my child and got into a minor accident. She had a full on psychotic break and had to be removed from the vehicle and sedated. After 2 weeks in the psych ward she is home, but in denial and being stubborn on treatment. I can tell the road to recovery will be long. They seem to isolate, I think sometimes forcing them to do something is the only way. This condition wrecked our lives, I feel like I missed some early signs, but in a way I wonder if things would've been worse if she thought I was going to take our child away. I still think there is no near enough awareness. I'm someone who spent many hours researching things about parenting, and for something so serious, PPP never came up.
@@Liynkx I hear ya. Your situation mirrors mine to the details. The first time this happened the police and medical emergency personnel had to force her to the phsychiatric ward where she sent 2 weeks. However she tricked me into thinking things were normal. She never took the medications. She would have episodes where she would isolate herself and blame me and other people for everything. The recovery is long but successful if they would take their medication. My life is wrecked as it is. I can't even take my kids to the nearest town for vacation or fun because of court conditions but at the same time she doesn't contribute anything to their lives. Women say the situation is bad for them but I believe it is worse for the husband and kids involved. Stay strong for your child is all I can say
@@fataheyable Having her accept help is my challenge now. Luckily I have been documenting and building a case with how she has kept my daughter away from me.
@@Liynkx and Gure jr. My heart breaks for both of you - and your wives - and your children - and your families. This illness is devastating in so many ways. I hope (and it seems) that you can see that it isn't her fault. One issue can be that what is hallucinated often seems so real that our minds and emotions attach to it as if it were, even after we are well. It is bizarre. I STILL cry when I talk about the hallucination about killing my daughter - because somewhere inside me it still feels like a memory of something that happened, not just an image in my mind. I have so much respect and admiration for men who stand by their wives - even as their wives make them the "bad guy" or even after their wife hurts or kills a child. I love my husband, but we have talked about this - he doesn't think he would have stood by me given what we knew at the time. It makes him queasy even now when I talk about women who do hurt their children--because he knows it could have been me and our child. Our laws and policies, coupled with system-wide ignorance really fail so many families dealing with psychosis (perinatal and otherwise). I hope things can still turn around for each of you one day. Your life may seem wrecked now, but I know families who have been through some of the worst trials who have finally turned it around. God bless you both.
Ur wife is selfish, she could do horrible things with this disease. Atleast you are cautious of what’s happening to her
My ex husband was cheating and giving me a very bad life, irresponsable, I collapsed and had a PPP, I recovered with treatment.
I hope the DA that is prosecuting Lindsay Clancy will watch this video and educate herself before she makes this ill woman become a monster in the public and throw her away for the rest of her life instead of getting the help she so desperately was trying to get
I'm a bit worried about this... I have these thoughts all the time about my family, I'm paranoid about my family being in car accidents, I think of my nephew sometimes falling off or I just imagine bad things and it terrifies me. I'm pregnant and having my baby soon and I don't know how I will react now that I know this actually happens...
+starfire Please talk to you OB about your concerns. It might be that you simply have the OCD anxiety disorder. Either way - all perinatal mood disorders are treatable. The BEST thing to do is to have full, early and open communication with your doctors and create an informed network of support around yourself. There are many good books and other information. Go to www.postpartum.net for more information and to see what is available.
Teresa Twomey plz contact me 8638323712
How long did you take to get over this illness???
My wife going through ppp and having loranzapine with sideeffects.any idea how long does it take to get over with,also if there is anything better than that "medicine" ?
I rarely check these comments, so I hope that this is distant history for you. That said, for others who may read this: That is a far longer answer than I could write here. I'd suggest talking to her doctor.
I am currently recovering from this. It is really hard. I'd like someone to release a video talking about their recovery journey to give me hope in mine. I'm 7 months in and some days I just feel like I can't do it anymore.
Don't give up. It takes time to recover. My ppp was very bad, i was long in psychiatry, it took me one and a half years to recover at home. But now I'm better than ever. And my child is the best gift!
@@corinnaschmalholz5155 Thank you. I have some of my story on my youtube channel
My PPP has been catastrophic. I also had CPTSD, depression, and anxiety on top of it all. I very seriously could have hurt my children and family, and I wanted to die last year. That being said, relationships are being repaired, slowly, but surely. I didn’t trust anyone. So I isolated myself from people around me. About 9 months into trauma therapy, it was like a switch flipped in my brain and I realized that I’d been delusional. I felt like everyone around me I loved had died and and I was grieving that loss. They were all still alive, but I was physically separated from them.
I am finally starting to feel things other than just being numb or depressed and anxious. Some days I wonder if I’m still delusional, and it’s scary to think it could happen again, but God is with me in this, and I know that I’ll come out stronger on the other side of this mess.
@@Elya08 you will get through it. I'm now back at work and loving my baby living a normal life. It really is tough but hopefully soon it will just be a part of your life you can have in the rear view mirror
@@Ranii1000 I did not see this exchange between you and Kayla until now -- what a testament to both the struggle and the healing over time!
Please feel free to express how we can help increase awareness.
Hector Belardo Jr bless you for supporting your wife and seeking help for your family
Sorry for the delay - rarely on here. There are many ways to increase awareness. For example, you can talk to politicians, write your story and share it, talk with groups, support organizations like APP and PSI who work to increase awareness. Share things that you read about it or see with others. I WILL say that 1) please be sure you share as ACCURATE information as possible and 2) know that not everyone will understand - as a now-popular phrase goes "haters gonna hate" and that is true when advocating regarding mental health issues as well. Thank you for your interest.
I experienced this, except it was never diagnosed and i got diagnosed with a personality disorder a year later.
They just played with my head and took my baby. They got off on it too i sware
It really is awful. If you had an underlying but undiagnosed disorder, or if postpartum was the precipitating element of your disorder, that makes the lack of (and delay of) diagnosis particularly unconscionable. I hope you are going well now.
I appreciate what your saying
But y cant men feel like this in a slite way. I'm old school but yet I felt like this n I felt less of a person because of this. I wudnt change n e thing for the world cuz my son is the going to b the best thing that happen to me n is going to change this world for the better in anything that he wants to. U can ignore my comment n I really don't mind but your son or daughter will prove u wrong n I will b glad of it when they give me the life saving treatment. Weather it b mentally or physically. This day n age we need to understand that pressures can affect us all coz so much is affects us from judgement n prejudice no matter how ppl perceive us . We have our own styles but ultimately it's what we do for our kids that define us.
I am not sure I fully understand your comment, so I will address what it seems to be. I do think that some men can experience something like PPP - but only in a limited way. That is, I do think that extreme lack of sleep can cause severe problems in some people - particularly those with certain underlying issues. And this often is a contributing factor for women who have PPP. However, the hormonal aspect, the waxing and waning, and the suddenness of onset are likely different in women vs. men. And those are often extremely critical aspects of this illness.
Wow. This is my story.
Sily Bustillo Im sorry your going through this. I hope you have found help!
I hope you have had the opportunity to connect with other survivors. If not, there are some groups on FB. I am so sorry that you have gone through this. I hope seeing that you are not alone has helped.
this is what my partner is going through at the moment
+Jalon McKinnon Have you been able to get her help? Postpartum Support International (www.postpartum.net) and Action on Postpartum Psychosis in the UK are two of the best organizations to turn to for information.
Hope she's better now.
so what is the best course of action for a family when mommy is dealing with psychosis?
Safety first, make sure the mother sees her baby often and performs any tasks that she is capable of like feeding or holding the baby, but with someone around. Medication is usually necessary. Sleep is one of the biggest problems, a lot of times the mother will have to be separated from the child, at least at night.
@@noeschkavanderkraan5926No! The mom shouldn’t be seeing her baby during her psychosis because she could have thoughts and intentions to hurt her baby. Seeing her baby and taking care of it lacks sleep. But yes I agree that medication and sleep is necessary.
If the mom is dealing with the psychosis, make sure the baby is away from her for safety and get her help immediately.
@@noeschkavanderkraan5926And postpartum psychosis is a very dangerous disease that will affect her and her child
I'm a survivor myself
🤗
This is good but I was hoping for a medical professional to talk about it.
Just seeing this now, but had to LOL. At about the same time of this comment, I gave a talk to a group and one of the doctors there said that he thought I knew more about PPP than most medical professionals (which is something I've heard several times before). I look forward to when that is no longer the case. But I do take the point here. This is not a medical presentation about best practices of care or particular physiology that can contribute or medical protocols or use of particular medications. I can only say that if you are interested in the medical aspect for professional reasons, I hope you are ALSO interested in survivor accounts and public-health issues regarding the illness.
@@teresatwomey8029 Yeah don't get me wrong, and I appreciate the comment, the more people are exposed to this topic the better; it can only lead to a more group centric emotional balance. We all as humans hope to achieve a world where we do not experience trauma, let alone at the miracle of childbirth.
My point only was that for a TED talk, I expecting to hear a specifically chemical/biological explanation... at least that's what I idly thought 3 years ago when I wrote it, not really considering anything other than my opinion at the time.
@@AinsleyHarriott1 Just seeing this now. And I agree, I'd love to see a professional present on chemical/biological explanation. Unfortunately, to my understanding (based on reading a lot of research and talking with a lot of survivors) is that this is not one distinct illness (although the EXPERIENCE of it tends to share dominant features). That is, there are many potential causes of psychosis in the postpartum period that are causally linked to the birth and that share a common set of symptoms and risks. I believe one day we will be able to identify somewhere between six to a dozen different contributing causes for psychosis linked to pregnancy or postpartum that we can put generally under the label "postpartum psychosis" (or more accurately, "perinatal psychosis).
hi Teresa Twomey can i have your email, i have some questions i would like to ask about this topic
I believe you can send a question to me via the Facebook page Understanding Postpartum Psychosis.
I don’t like the way she addresses mentally ill women. “Other women” “not normal, like me”
then get over it snow flake
@@pinktenshi100 Please don't insult people here. Boyo Bird has a valid complaint. I did have a stigmatized view of mental illness and that can certainly be harmful in many ways. That is one of the reasons I DO say it. An unpleasant truth. Finding it hurtful does not make someone a snow flake.
I think she was just trying to show how much stigma there is around PPP, and how even she thought back then a thing like that would never happen to her because she was educated, healthy etc.
yes we were able to get her the help she needed