In the past 24 hours, the blogosphere has been flooded with
reports that actress Gywneth Paltrow suffered postnatal depression. In an
interview in the May issue of Vogue, Paltrow was uncharacteristically revealing
about several aspects of her life, including her social life and body image.
But the “revelation” about feeling depressed after the birth of her second
child is the one that seems to have sparked the interest of the masses. This
hubbub makes me glad that Paltrow was so open about her struggles as a
new parent, since the emotions she describes—“I felt really disconnected. I
felt really down; I felt pessimistic”—are hardly rare among new mothers. Between
50 and 70 percent of women suffer from “baby blues,” fits of sadness or
irritability during their child’s infancy, and up to 25 percent of women suffer
from postnatal depression, a more severe, longer lasting sense of gloom. To a
lesser degree, postnatal depression also affects young fathers.
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