A mother enters the house with a newborn. Pain is vivid on her face and she is unresponsive even as her husband smiles at her or relatives around her express glee on welcoming the latest addition to the family.
This scene might be from a recent music video, Jananya that has generated much noise around the issue of postpartum depression, but thousands of women resonate with it. 22 per cent new mothers in India, as per a World Health Organisation report suffer from postpartum depression.
“Post-partum depression is a spectrum, which begins with baby blues where the mother has feelings of worry and anxiety of being a new mom,” says Mumbai-based psychiatrist Parul Agarwal.
In the video that shows the woman being aloof to her baby and oblivious to her surroundings is the brainchild of director Anand Anilkumar, who has worked as assistant director for Malayalam movies like Underworld and Driving License. “After giving birth to our baby boy, my wife was discussing the baby blues she was feeling with her friends. And that's when she realised that there is much more beyond the uncomfortable feeling. I began research on postpartum depression. I realised most women had no idea what they were going through or why they felt 'aloof' or 'not connected' to their baby,” he says.
“Most common symptoms include mothers suddenly bursting into tears, suffering from insomnia and getting negative thoughts. This is when most families bring in mothers for counselling. There are instances where mothers can go beyond this and go into psychosis, where they are not able to relate to or care for the newborn, feel like harming the baby and get suicidal thoughts even,” explains Dr Parul.
A mother who experienced post-partum depression after the birth of her second child and wished to be quoted anonymously said, “I felt detached to my daughter and people around me looked at me like I was a bad mother. Every time I nursed her, I would get a panic attack. Many women go through this but I think it is a taboo to talk about it.”
“Counselling helps, but, sometimes, medication might be needed too. And yes, there are drugs available that can be taken even if the mother is nursing, which is safe for both mother and the child,” Parul explains.
The video that shows the couple going for counselling towards the end, was shared by celebrities like actor Rima Kallingal and director Anjali Menon. The video was, on Sunday, shared by the Department of Women and Child Development of Kerala.
Director of the video Anand Anilkumar | supplied; A screengrab from the music video | Youtube
The Facebook page of the government department congratulated makers on the much-needed video. “A video that clearly describes the postpartum depression that a large percentage of women around us face but is not fully understood by society.” It also said that the video is a wake-up call of sorts for the healthcare professionals to take up the issue and work on it.
They further wrote that they were planning a campaign to create awareness on postpartum depression this year and that the video is a motivation to take the cause further.
The WHO report says that commonly reported risk factors for postpartum depression include a history of psychiatric illness in the mother, an unhappy marriage and lack of support from extended family among others. According to the report by WHO, post-partum depression, if not tended to immediately, could push women into clinical or severe depression long-term, affect mother-child relationship and affect the child's growth and development.
At the end of the video is a simple message, but an important one: 'Speak out, seek help, you are not alone'.
