Actress Alyssa Milano recently revealed her struggle with postpartum depression and anxiety after the birth of her first child. When celebrities shine a spotlight on matters of mental health, often it helps remove some of the associated stigma that prevents people from seeking the help they need. If you are experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression and/or anxiety and you’re in the West Side Cleveland area, please contact us to request an appointment.
Here is the article she wrote for Time:
I have a secret, and I am not alone.
I am a mother, an actor and an activist — and like over 40 million Americans, I live with a mental illness. This Mental Health Awareness Month, I am joining the people nationwide who are standing up, sharing their stories and demanding that lawmakers defend our access to health care.
My Generalized Anxiety Disorder was most likely triggered by my postpartum depression, and my journey with mental illnesses began with my journey into motherhood.
In 2011, two years after suffering a miscarriage, I learned that I was pregnant with my first son, Milo — and it was a dream. My miscarriage was heartbreaking, but this pregnancy was beautiful: I did not experience morning sickness; I went to prenatal yoga five times a week; I walked two miles a day; and I took naps in the afternoon.
Following this idyllic image of motherhood, I wrote a strict birth plan: no induction of labor, no pain medication and no c-sections. I equated a natural birth to my value as a woman and as a mother — and I was determined not to stray from that course.
But life does not always go according to plan.
On August 31, 2011, ten days before my due date, I began to have complications. Despite my plan, the doctors had to try to induce labor. I was forced to take an epidural, and I eventually delivered my beautiful son (after 18 hours of labor and three and a half hours of pushing) via C-section. And then, with my darling son in my hands, I was in excruciating pain not only from my C-section but also, from my milk coming in.
That first night, after we returned from the hospital, I suffered my first anxiety attack. I felt like I had already disappointed my child. I felt like I failed as a mother, since I was not able to give birth vaginally or nourish him with the breast milk that had not come in yet. My heart raced. My stomach seized up. I felt like I was dying.
I recovered. But a few months later, Milo spiked a very high fever and had a febrile seizure in my arms, and my paralyzing anxiety reared its head again.
No, no, no, I thought to myself. This can’t be happening again. I don’t have time for this. This was still 2011, and I was supposed to start work on a television show the following week.
I told myself that I needed to keep myself together.
To continue reading Alyssa Milano’s story at Time.com, click here.