It's still unclear if the White House tragedy involving Miriam Carey, 34, is related to her postpartum mental condition. However, a perinatal psychiatrist who has treated women with psychiatric illnesses that are linked to childbirth expressed that Miriam's story is not entirely unique. Apparently, Carey might have suffered from postpartum psychosis—an aggravated postpartum condition.
The NY Daily News interviewed Margaret Spinelli, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, to know if postpartum could be that worse.
Carey's history of her earlier postpartum year suggests that she had been psychotic for the entire three month-period after her delivery. Likewise, her partner has twice reported to the Connecticut police on how she became delusional, acted irrationally, and placed her infant daughter in danger.
Moreover, the family had reported that Carey had two hospitalizations and had got home visits by one of the social workers in the state. Her recent delusions were said to have revolved around her belief that she has the capacity to communicate with U.S President Obama and that the latter has placed her Connecticut home under an electronic-based monitoring device so that her life will be broadcasted on television.
Although the family has divulged that she is suffering from postpartum depression that is affecting 10 to 15 percent of women, it seems obvious that her condition is more serious and poses more danger with the presence of a mental illness dubbed as postpartum psychosis. Such disorder which affects just one in every 1,000 women is believed to be closely related with suicide, infanticide, or even both.
Studies show that there is a significant increase in the rate of psychotic and depressive illnesses during the first 90 days after delivery. While it is true that postpartum depression is characterized by an onset of sadness, anxiety, guilt and overwhelmed feeling, the mother still has a good deal of insight, judgment, and reality testing.
