I usually don’t look at obituaries. They’re just not my thing. However, as I was flipping through the newspaper the other day, the photograph of a sweet face of a young girl caught my attention. I stopped to read the article, which turned out to be an obituary. It told of an active twenty-six year old woman who had attended law school, was active with a variety of community associations, and was an all-around bright, kind person with a lot of future life to enjoy. As I continued to read about this person, I discovered that she is survived by her husband and twin daughters. Knowing that she passed away at twenty-six, I assume that the twins are not very old. I can only imagine the loss to this family. For reasons I simply cannot explain, I was not at all surprised when I saw that the last two lines of the obituary suggested that people send donations to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Even though I was not surprised by what I read, my heart just sank.
There is no way that I can know the full story of the life of this young wife, mother, daughter, sister, and niece, but postpartum depression immediately became my imagined scenario of her situation. I have no way of knowing if she sought or received any help, if the help did not help, or if her family missed the signs. But what I do believe is that this was a needless end to a promising and important life. There should have been a different ending.
If you know anyone who exhibits the signs of postpartum depression, or you would like to know the signs of postpartum depression, please go to any of these websites for more information.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/postpartum-depression/basics/symptoms/CON-20029130
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/postpartum-depression-facts/index.shtml
http://www.babycenter.com/0_postpartum-depression-and-anxiety_227.bc
THERE IS TREATMENT!
Anxiety Musings 