Postpartum Depression

Dr. Robin Smith, who has worked with many women who have suffered from postpartum depression, says there are three significant signs that a woman is suffering from the illness:

1. The inability to experience pleasure of any sort. "Pleasure can be going out with friends to have lunch, pleasure can be connecting with your baby, pleasure could be having sex with your partner again," she says. "But … it feels like pleasure doesn't belong to you any longer."
2. Feeling isolated, hopeless and guilty. "Just that sense that you're set apart, you're feeling hopeless, like nothing can make it better. … And that it's never going to get better," Dr. Smith says.
3. Drastic physical changes. "Eating too much; not eating enough. Oversleeping; not sleeping enough."