OK......I am not even sure how I came across this little ditty from Good Morning America. However, I want anyone and everyone to know that I was somewhat disappointed in it. I feel this presentation provided another excuse for the use of these medications. Do they believe physicians really prescribe these meds based on the fact that being a mommy is difficult? That is the diagnosis turned in to the insurance agency?? I believe some women take medication to mask issues that existed before motherhood pasted yellow stars to their foreheads.
Let me preface my comments by acknowledging I too use the identified Benzodiazapine (Xanax) in addition to an SSNRI (Effexor). I will also acknowledge I never used these types of medications prior to becoming a mother. However, becoming a mother was only the nudge that forced me over the edge.
I am one of those women who wanted nothing more in life than to marry the man of my dreams and fill my home with ooodles of children. I was never one to dream of working at the office, or wearing a skirt and stockings everyday. But I also never dreamed I would be so exhausted as a new mother.
Despite warnings from one generation to another, one sister to another, one friend to another, a woman is never prepared for the mind boggling fatigue that occurs within days of childbirth. Most mothers experience a few weeks of 'baby blues', another warning typically ignored. But some mothers, perhaps those included in the GMA video, find those blues don't seem to fade away. Instead, they seem to linger and grow larger than life while the mother puts on a happy face for everyone who compliments the beautiful baby. For a smaller number of women, severe Post-partem Depression will take over their lives and prevent appropriate bonding not only with their newborn but with the world around them. These are the mothers who should have been depicted in the GMA video.
I have experienced the difference between healthy, normal 'baby blues' and the dreaded Post-partem Depression. A diagnosis of a severe Post-partem depression, lasting beyond the birth of another child, is what led to the eventual diagnosis of Panic Disorder and my use of noted medications.
Lets face it. Being a parent is hard. Twenty-four hour shifts with no time off. The more children you have, the larger the drain on emotional energy. Being the mommy is not for sissys! But using medication to get you through the day 'without going crazy' is not the answer. I often see women out together in groups. Sometimes they have little ones with them and sometimes they are having an adults only escape. Despite what it looks like, these women do not leave their motherhood behind when they leave home. It is just as hard for the lady in high heels and lipstick as it is for me (wearing jeans that were invented for sleep).
Never-the-less, all women should explore their lives prior to becoming a mommy. Perhaps their anxiety will only be diminished when they come to accept that their child's diaper smells as badly as the next, that their child also leaks green snot, and that most mommys have laundry waiting, dishes waiting, and bills waiting to be paid. Until then, the facade of being a perfect mommy will be very fragile. The medications being used are not happy pills and will not make them better mothers or their children better behaved. The only way to improve motherhood is to put effort into it, and one must be healthy physically and emotionally in order to do that.
Post-partem depression is a serious mental health crisis and needs to be addressed appropriately. Medications alone are unlikely to help without guided exploration of personal interpretations of life. I am now an empty nester and continue the medications first prescribed 30 years ago; because not only was being a mommy hard, being a mommy with Panic Disorder was even harder.
I believe Good Morning America did a disservice to mothers across the nation by implying these medications make parenting easier. They also diminish the effort to bring mental health to the forefront by minimizing what could be serious post-partem issues among their viewers. MOM
No comments:
Post a Comment