Lately I have been hanging out in groups on Facebook with women who have been through postnatal depression/psychosis/anxiety and a theme I picked up which does concern me I their linking of their postnatal depression journey onto their child. Very sadly for these women, who are still in the midst of the journey, they were labelling their child as the cause of their PND. This brought tears to my eyes as it is really important that there is no link with their journey and the child.
I know for myself for so long I have had the mentality that I had to make it all up to Emma for being in hospital with her for 5 months of her first year of life and I have been worried that when she hears about my struggles with PND that she may not forgive me for keeping her away from her daddy at the early stages in life. My psychologist at the time challenged my thinking about this issue with a simple why do I think she would hate me? When I verbally spoke about my reasoning, I realised that they were not founded reasons. He then said to me ‘didn’t you do what you had to do for them? and the answer is yes. I had to do what I had to do to make sure they still had a mum to look after them.
It is imperative that you do not blame the child for your journey because sadly it is not because of them that it has happened. We have to work harder to establish the bond between us and your child loves you no matter what. The best thing about PND is that you do recover from it and you can still establish strong and amazing connections with your children. But the first step is do not blame the child for your journey.
If you want to know more how Coaching for Lifetime Change can help you break the sense of blame and establish strong and amazing connections with your children, click on the link for more information
http://coachingforlifetimechange.com.au/surviving-to-thriving-after-postnatal-depression/