Have you been able to access the info... - Action on Postpar...
Have you been able to access the information you needed about PP?
5 years on I have found a lot more information than I did when my family first started looking. Most of the information I have found has come from APP, one book in particular and from peers through either forums or blogs. It is very difficult to access trusted factual information. There are a lot of sensationalist insensitive stories online and blogs that are very judgemental of PP; so for the newly diagnosed trawling through random pages on the internet is definitely not recommended. It would have been wonderful to have been given a list of webpages to visit that could have answered our initial questions and calmed our fears.
I fully agree & had the same experience 6yrs ago. Googling for information was a shocking experience back then - I hope things have improved since then!
I always found it very difficult to access information on PP. It was very limited and all the information seem to mirror each other with the same basic paragraph, It can also feel when going on forums and ladies/partners/family or friends are trying to find a positive story some hope that their wife/daughter etc will get well, it can be a struggle. So I am glad that this forum will now provide just that to those in need.
My PPP (postpartum psychosis) experience was in 1998. I began really researching PPP in 1999-2000. My first google search: 0 hits. Really - zero! I found NO "mainstream" books that even listed symptoms! (Mainstream = those I could find in libraries and book stores) One medical book even said it did not need to list symptoms b/c it would be obvious to anyone around the woman (which I knew was both not true AND dangerously misleading). So I got very involved with Postpartum Support International and wrote what some have called a "seminal" book on ppp - with medical, legal, historical view and with first-person stories and resources listed. I've heard from SO many women saying that this is the only really good book they have found on PPP. But it will not be for long! (Plus there ARE other books on postpartum mood disorders generally that do a very good overview on PPP - and now, on Amazon, even non-mainstream books are easier to find.) I've been contacted by several women who say they plan to publish a book on PPP. So - eventually there will be more and more out there - which helps to put pressure on general sites to include PPP and media to "get the story right." B/c although it is "rare" there are many women every year who suffer from it. (For comparison: it happens at about the same rate as Down Syndrome.) And I LOVE APP!! They are doing a phenomenal job and I wish we had an organization like them in USA. Information on this illness may be in it's infancy in modern media - but it IS gaining traction! Every little bit helps.
I've found peer support help but trying to find medical help and medication/appropriate therapies has been extremely difficult in non-private healthcare.
