Mental Health Hope & Help - 5

Editor's Note: Throughout May, DTN/Progressive Farmer's special series "Mental Health Hope & Help" is exploring the unique mental health challenges people in rural America face, highlighting efforts to overcome stigma and looking at ways farmers and ranchers can manage their mental wellness. This is the fifth story in the series.

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My newborn baby's cry was a hot poker to my brain, piercing it in precisely the right spot to flood my nervous system with rage and anger. I knew the response was irrational but felt powerless to stop it.

Motherhood was supposed to be joyous, but nothing had ever made me so out of control and broken.

My husband encouraged me to share my struggles with my doctor. With the help of medication, meditation techniques and supportive friends, I gradually wrestled my postpartum depression (PPD) into submission.

It's estimated that one in 10 mothers suffer from postpartum depression, although there's also research suggesting that it's probably more common. Like many mental health conditions, it often goes undiagnosed and untreated.

More than the "baby blues," postpartum depression is longer lasting and interferes with daily life. Some mothers feel overwhelming sadness. Others can't stop crying. It's mood swings, uncontrollable anxiety, difficulty sleeping, hopelessness, rage and, in the worst cases, thoughts of harming herself or her baby.

While most farmers are male, women fill vital roles on the farm and in farm families. If you only think of motherhood as a happy and fulfilling experience, it could be easy to overlook or dismiss the struggles that come with it as "just hormones."

Hormones are powerful forces in the body and mind. There are many ways to manage them. Medications can be incredibly helpful. Some women may be hesitant to take them, especially if they're nursing, but the science shows they're safe for mom and baby when taken as prescribed. Behavioral therapies have helped me stop the flood of emotions before they get out of control.

As we dive deeply into issues related to mental health in this series, I hope that sharing a little about my experience helps you see or understand a piece that you may never experience yourself. But if you look around and think about your experiences, you probably know someone who shared my struggle.

Early identification and early treatment are crucial to prevent PPD from becoming a long-term condition. If you or someone you know is struggling, please discuss it with your doctor. It changed my experience with motherhood, and now I can celebrate the joyous moments. It's still hard, but it's no longer clouded by irrational rage.

Katie Dehlinger can be reached at katie.dehlinger@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X at @KatieD_DTN

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For more articles in this series:

Blog:

-- Editor's Notebook: "Take Time for Mental Health," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Stories:

-- Mental Health Hope & Help - 1: "Rural Americans Still Face Mental Health Stigma, Scarcity of Resources, But Outlook Is Improving," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Mental Health Hope & Help - 2: "Farmers Urge Fellow Farmers to Reach Out When Life Overwhelms," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Mental Health Hope & Help - 3: "Obstacles, Solutions Abound in Rural Youth Mental Health," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Mental Health Hope & Help - 4: "Gender Differences Exist in Farmer Emotional Health," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Additional resources:

For more information and mental health resources, visit our "Spotlight on Rural Mental Health" page at https://spotlights.dtnpf.com/…

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