Last night the SBS program Insight featured a show on post natal depression. Boy it was sad – particularly the story of the woman who took her own life in a mother/baby unit here in Victoria. She left behind two little boys and a deeply grieving husband. The thing which struck me were her photos – she looked so full of life yet she was extremely depressed, being unable to function even with help from others around her.
Thankfully I believe this is an extreme case. You can recover from PND, as the other stories in the show highlighted. One woman even went on to have five kids!
There were some slightly funny moments: the fix-it mentality of the men bought a few smiles and nods from both the men and women in the audience (and my partner). The point is that women want to be heard and listened to – not have their husband/partner immediately fly into fix-it mode. I also thought it was very brave of one of the women who admitted to wanting to put her child’s head under the water in the bath. Fortunately she was rational enough to immediately remove her child from the bath and call her mother for help.
You can view the episode here… http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/122#watchonline
No PANDA this week as it’s school holidays – will be back there next week.
