The dangers of Pathologizing Postpartum
I’m going down the rabbit hole w the Lindsay Clancy case and get this it is WILDLY similar to the Andrea Yates case…both were nurses, both husbands worked for big tech companies, both mothers had stopped breastfeeding close to the m***** of their children, if these mothers had understood weaning effects our hormones so much that the lack of oxytocin from the feeding and the change in prolactin production (what once was responsible for feelings of calm, bonding, etc are now gone) what that does to women mentally if they were told this physiological response instead of the medical system telling them they’re crazy would they have been spared their fates???? Big mind fuck, they both went the traditional routes of getting “help” both failed by the medical system, the hospitalizations, the medications all just made it worse bc their HORMONES were crashing and they felt something was wrong w them they didn’t understand they were experiencing withdrawal from breastfeeding, instead they were pathologized instead of educated on how women’s bodies and brains changes during the most massive hormonal demand of their lives. I genuinely believe if women and families were more educated on the physiological and biochemical responses women having during pregnancy, postpartum etc women wouldn’t feel such dread, panic, and hopelessness bc they would understand what’s happening to them and not that they’re going crazy or downing medications w side effects of thoughts of self harm/harming others etc. hormones are so much of an afterthought mothers feel like they’re failing and spiral when their body is just having a natural response.
While intense and deserving of support, also deeply misunderstood and mishandled.