Adele is a 28 year old, ten-time Grammy winner with multiple hit singles and even an Oscar. She is a superstar of massive proportions and she seems to have it all. However, Adele has recently come clean about suffering from postpartum depression after having her first child, Angelo, who is now four years old.
She opened up about her depression in a Vanity Fair cover story, stating, “I was obssessed with my child. I felt very inadequate; I felt like I’d made the worst decision of my life.”
She struggled with this feelings for a long while after giving birth to her son. Initially, Adele refused to talk about her problems with anyone, thinking no one would understand and people would think she was unfit for motherhood. “I didn’t talk to anyone about it, I was very reluctant.” She did not take antidepressants, instead finding help when she was finally able to talk to people about her issue.
“4 of my friends felt the same way I did, and everyone was too embarrassed to talk about it,” Adele stated.
To help with her feelings of depression and anxiety, Adele decided to take one afternoon a week to do whatever she wanted without her son. This decision was met with some questions from her friends, but she did it anyways. In ways, it helped her become a better mom.
Adele has stated that she has always been very available to depression. She claims that she can slip in and out of dark moods quite easily as she has always been melancholy.
The professional term for what she has been experiencing is Perinatal Mood Disorder, or Perinatal Depression and Anxiety disorder. This means the symptoms developed while Adele was still pregnant with her child, and it persisted until long after the child was born. One in seven women experience Preinatal Mood Disorder. This disorder is different from the common “baby blues” because the baby blues symptoms subside quickly, usually within a week or two after birth. Perinatal Mood Disorder can get worse as time goes on.
Subtypes and symptoms of this disorder are in four categories. The first is depression, the second is anxiety which causes irritability and anger. The third is panic attacks, and fourth is a type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Distress is a symptom that is constant.
Adele has finally been able to open up about her Perinatal Mood Disorder and she is much stronger for it. “My knowledge of postpartum- or post natal, as we call it in England- is that you don’t want to be with your child. You’re worried you weren’t doing a good job.”
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/01/health/adele-postpartum-depression/
Photo:
http://www.twincities.com/2016/07/05/adele-st-paul-minneapolis/