HEALTH
My Little Bundle of
Depression
Everyone around you is
making faces and cooing
sounds at your newborn
while congratulating you on
how beautiful he or she is.
But, all you want to do is to
run far, far away. Post-natal
depression is real and can
be dangerous if untreated.
Family & Life talks to Dr
Sandy Umboh and discovers
that men too can suffer from
the baby blues.
Her children had become independent and rarely had time
to r elax and hang out with her. After all, they had their own
mounting schoolwork to deal with. Her significant other
was a capable father and a loving husband who worked
hard for the family and returned home every night to her
grateful arms.
Unfortunately, the time between when her husband and
children headed out of the house and then returned home
felt like a void filled with meaningless household chores
and silence. The homemaker felt lonely, and longed for
another child that could fill that emptiness with laughter.
Her husband, understanding how she felt, agreed to have
another child.
The pregnancy was thankfully uneventful but for reasons
unknown, she became depressed after giving birth. Her
husband, worried sick about her condition, brought her to
the doctors.
That was when Dr Sandy Umboh, an Associate Consultant
in the Department of Psychological Medicine at KK
Women’s and Children’s Hospital first met her.
“She did not describe herself as feeling depressed.
Instead, she said she felt ‘bored’. However, she exhibited
other behaviours that suggested she was suffering
from post-natal depression – loss of interest in usual
pleasurable activities, loss of appetite and insomnia,” Dr
Umboh recalls.
Post-Natal
Checklist of Symptoms
Depression
Low mood
Cr
ying
Irr
itability
related to
Sl
eep disturbance un
baby’s needs
Ap
petite changes
Lo
ss of energy
or forgetfulness
Po
or concentration
e or guilt
Ex
cessive self-blam
ness
Fe
elings of hopeless
self or baby,
Th
oughts of harm to
or suicide
se
xes are ticked, plea
If three or more bo
care
m a health
seek assistance fro
ediately. The KK
professional imm
rs
ren’s Hospital offe
Women’s and Child
atment for women
consultation and tre
n.
st-natal depressio
suffering from po
call
tment, please
To make an appoin
+65 6294 4050.
20
Family & Life • Nov 2013
She felt unmotivated and could not bring herself to do
the household chores. Although she could still look
after the baby, she could not bond with her newborn and
therefore felt useless, unable to fulfil her roles as a wife
and a mother.
Cases such like this are not an isolated incident.
In Singapore, up to 7% of new mothers suffer from
post-natal depression. While this figure seems low, it
is comparatively one of the highest in the region. The
rates of mothers suffering from post-natal depression
in Malaysia and Indonesia stood at 6.8% and 6.6%
respectively, while in Hong Kong and Japan, 5.5% and
5.0% of new mums experienced the blues.
According to Dr Umboh, there has been a marked
increase in the number of patients seeking help for
“psychological problems and psychiatric disorders
relating to pregnancy and postpartum” over the past
five years.
She believes this rise can be attributed to two
reasons – greater awareness in the general public
regarding the condition and an increasingly fastpaced and affluent society that consequently leads
to higher stress levels.
“In today’s society, it is common for mothers
to wear multiple hats such as caring for their
children, supervising the homework of the older
ones and organising the household, all this while
working at the same time,” Dr Umboh explains.
Men Are Not Spared
More and more men are starting to seek professional
help for this condition. In fact, depression in new dads
also has its own name – paternal postnatal depression
– in recognition that the symptoms associated with this
condition are also unique in their own way.
Relatively new and recently recognised, paternal
postnatal depression, or PPND, strikes 10% of men
around the world, an astonishing one in every 10.
Experts believe that the actual number of sufferers
might even be higher due to the social stigma attached
to the ailment. After all, boys aren’t supposed to cry.
Just like mothers, new fathers also experience
significant life changes with a new addition to the
family and are also subjected to the same stressors.
Some of the main causes of PPND include:
• Sleep deprivation
A new baby is always a joyful occasion but it also
means constantly disrupted sleep, which can take
its toll as the months wear on. Many new fathers
severely underestimate how sleep-deprived they
are and how the lack of sleep affects their mood!
• Shifting hormones
It’s not just Mums who experience shifting
hormones with the arrival of a bundle of joy. Dads
too can become victims during this period as
testosterone levels dip and oestrogen levels rise,
which explains why some males unexplainably
become more emotional and weepy. Lower
testosterone levels have been linked with
depression in men.
• Sense of helplessness
A lot of men have been socially trained to be the
protector and provider for the family, so they might
feel excluded and helpless when they see their
wives going through an experience that they cannot
understand. This can be traumatic to a male’s ego
and can lead to him becoming distant from the new
baby and the family.
Males suffering from PPND might start indulging in
risk-taking behaviour such as substance abuse and
become more prone to violent outbursts. Some will
experience subtle changes in behaviour such as either
losing interest in work or even becoming more of a
workaholic, or having problems with concentration
and motivation.
The Dangers
When Mum or Dad are suddenly behaving differently, it is
best to seek out professional help as soon as possible to
nip this problem in the bud. Letting postnatal and paternal
postnatal depression linger on for too long not only causes
immediate harm to the family but causes significant longterm psychological effects to the parent and the baby.
And what about that Mum, the one we mentioned at the
beginning of this article?
Well, thanks to her eagle-eyed husband who made an
early intervention, she sought treatment. She was given
medication and received support and counselling. Slowly,
her mood improved and now, she is back to her usual,
smiling self again.