PP storyline in Hollyoaks

[Ellie_at_APP]

Hi all,

I wanted to let you all know, if you haven't already seen on our social media, that Action on Postpartum Psychosis has collaborated with British soap opera Hollyoaks to help create one of the soap’s biggest storylines for Christmas 2020 and into the new year.

This sees the character Liberty Savage (played by actress Jessamy Stoddart), become ill with postpartum psychosis following the birth of her child in September.

You can see more information about our involvement on our website here: app-network.org/news-events...

The Hollyoaks postpartum psychosis storyline has been building since September, when character Liberty Savage gave birth. Liberty has been showing signs that all might not be well, and things will reach crisis-point in December, when she will be admitted to hospital over Christmas.

Do take care watching, as I imagine it could bring back some painful memories for some of us, and do know we at APP are all here for you. We can support each other on here, and if you are in the UK you can also access one to one support as well, where we can link you with someone else who has also been affected by PP. There is information here about all our peer support, including a form to fill out if you want to request support: app-network.org/peer-support/

Take care all, Ellie

[Marshman]

Why has it taken from September until December for the situation to reach crisis point?? That doesn't make sense as psychosis often appears within the first 14 days after childbirth. Seems like the storyline isn't truly accurate and feels a bit like they have sensationalised PP. I hope the storyline goes on for months maybe even years. I hope that the Mum returns from an MBU on anti-psychotic medication that makes her feels so exhausted and depressed all she can think about is when she can next go to sleep. I hope that the Mum has a extreme fears that her baby will be taken that lasts even after discharge. I hope they show the Mum in tears when she hears of someone elses pregnancy and thinks to herself it would be too selfish to risk putting my family through all this again; but secretly longing for a second child because actually now she is much better she loves being a Mum. I just really hope that this storyline doesn't make a spectacle of psychosis making it seem all weird and wonderful by emphasising things like the hallucinations and hearing voices culminating in a dramatic crescendo. Because I feel like do you know what that wasn't my experience of post partum psychosis. I was seriously ill within days of having my lovely baby and I was soon in a PICU where I couldn't even shower myself. And the grief and misery that lasts for a long time after this trauma shouldn't be treated lightly

[guinea1 in reply to Marshman]

I agree, I really hope they show the horrors of being separated from your baby and stuck in a general psychiatric hospital as there are no beds in a MBU where it's the first time you have dealings which anything to do with mental illness and you are terrified or them, your family talks you in to going as believe this is the right place for you but when you get there they have no idea the needs of a new mother, it takes year to get over the fact that they let you go to a place like that. you are unable to communicate properly and the other patients are frightening and some even violent... and they expect you to mix with them or your seen to not be improving, they refuse to let you go home and can't see the environment it the cause of you getting worse, you lose hope and your spirit is broken, your family manages to get you home for a weekend and say you are not going back as it making you worse , you finally make it to a private clinic where the other patients are safe for a mum and baby you have one to one care and you bond and get better... you push the horrors away and years later, nearing menopause etc, every thing begins to unwind, you start fearing the worst and feel your going mad, the gp starts talking to you and you blurt all that had happened and that you think it is all coming back, as time goes by you get diagnosed with PTSD and have pushed the experience deeper than you even know that secret place you never want to go to, that's too hot to handle..... and once it comes tumbling out you can't put it back and have to face and practically relive the flashbacks and memories like it was yesterday.... I am having to learn to trust these professionals, that are the reasons I am Ill now unsure if I will ever get well or learn to cope with these symptoms.

If people really knew the sheer horror of what happens to mothers and babies who develop this aweful illness, I feel things would change as it is barbaric to to be seperated and treated in a general psychiatric hospital where they dont have the expertise of a MBU... things have got to change as I tell the psychiatrist how can I get better when I know new mothers are still out there being separated and in general psychiatric hospital..... I do hope they will research in to how many mother develop PTSD later in life because of the trauma of psychiatric stays in these places.

I will try to what, but still find things very difficult at the moment too many triggers.

[Marshman in reply to guinea1]

Aww so much love for you. It must be really hard living day to day with PTSD. I was so upset when I found out my friend was pregnant. We are quite close and I know she will be a fab Mum but her due date is around the same time as when my daughter was born. So I suppose I started to relive it all like you say. And I couldn't help thinking why did it have to be me? Like obviously I wouldn't wish it on anyone but why me? I was violent myself so that's why I ended up in a psychiatric intensive care unit. Because of the strong drugs they used to manage me I was wheeled around in a wheelchair and I have a vague recollection of being force fed. But I cannot be fully sure of what happened as I was so drugged. I know you don't necessarily want my advice but I wouldn't watch the Hollyoaks storyline. What you have been through is so personal to you. You have done and are doing amazing. I think one of the things that is forgotten is that the babies grow up and the Mums get better but you have to live with what happened forever. You push on through and do everything in your power to be a good parent despite the rocky start. And I suppose that might be why you've pushed down and bottled up everything that happened to you because you were so busy being a Mum it was the only way you could deal with it. Again you probably don't want or need my advice but I would find someone you can talk to about everything that happened, get it all out in the open. Acknowledge that you were dealt a shit hand and that when you should have been at home being nurtured and making memories with your baby you were experiencing one of the greatest traumas. But lay it to rest don't let it spoil all the lovely things you have to look forward to xx

[guinea1 in reply to Marshman]

Thank you, yes having 2 children to look after probably help to push it down, plus the sheer fear of doctors and I had an issue if I had talked about it to family it would have hurt them.. when things finally came out when my daughter was 23, my husband kept making excuses why he let me go there, finally he said he wished he had never let me go there. I have had the most supportive gp and he helped me to open up and talk to family and trusted friends... he says it was a crap time for me and should not have been treated like that, he has got me counselling and therapy which has helped a little, I am now in secondary care, so have a case worker and hopefully will start talking therapy in May... it is easier said than done to move on from this as professional people who I should have been able to trust let me down, I wasnt violent, just very scared and it has effected the trust for the people who now are trying to help, they understand why i fear and struggle to trust them and that is a step forward ... but to move on is like saying it was ok what happened and it was far from that, but that is why the therapy is needed, so hopefully things will start to get better with time x

[Lilybeth Volunteer in reply to guinea1]

Hello guinea1

I am so sorry that you are suffering years later from effects of your episode of PP. I think, as NanaJudith said so well, Hollyoaks is a drama and not a documentary. So I don’t think we can expect every detail to be accurate or the way it was for us, as our episodes were so unique and different.

Although I am only a volunteer, I think APP has collaborated with this ‘soap’ as it will raise awareness of this very traumatic illness which, for many of us, struck out of the blue. I had PP twice many years ago and was sectioned to an asylum, when mental health was very much in the shadows. So perhaps by screening it might be helpful in some way to lift some of the stigma associated with mental health.

It happened to the best of us ...... all we can do is speak out to let mums know that it’s not their fault and reassure them that with the right medical care they will be well again.

I hope, for all of us, next year will be brighter and you will be able to receive therapy in May. Take care.

[guinea1 in reply to Lilybeth]

Thank you. I really do hope it will bring awareness and hopefully.. I have seen little bits of it and does bring back the trauma...so I won't be watching more, I hope one day I will be able see things that don't bring on such aweful memories. Being in secondary care now I have the support and know they are doing everything to stop a hospital stay if things do go into crisis..... so at least that fear is less... when it comes out of the blue and you have had no previous experience of mental illness, this just adds to the trauma, added to the fact a social worker causally tell me it would come back in later life when I had just go back home..... played on my mind. Everything just got too much... part of my therapy was to speak to the MBU in Exeter that care is much different now... though that is for the ones who are lucky enough to be able to get a bed in these places.. I am sure I will get there one day .

[Lilybeth Volunteer in reply to guinea1]

Hello guinea1

Thank you for your reply. I do hope in May next year your therapy will help you to eventually find peace of mind. For now I think we all need to be mindful of triggers and step away from anything that makes us feel uncomfortable. Best wishes.

[NanaJudith_APP_Vol Volunteer in reply to guinea1]

Dear Guinea1,I am so sorry that you still suffer as a result of having PP and your subsequent treatment, you have had an awful experience. I hope you do not mind my reply. I did not have PP, unfortunately though, my daughter did but was fortunate in that there was a place in an mbu.. APP have done and continue to raise awareness of the awful illness that is Postpartum psychosis and many brave mothers have benefitted from their work and the forum.

You have such empathy and I am sorry that you feel you carry a burden that mothers are not treated as they should be when they become mentally unwell, do try, if you can, not to be weighed down.. It was not your fault that you became unwell and, although it is not quickly enough, awareness is growing and more mothers are now admitted into mother and baby units.

It would be much better if drama, when telling a story, especially about a serious illness, could be more factual and sensitively told and not sensationalised, but maybe it is in the word 'drama', it is not a documentary.. It is a difficult subject and though there are similarities, each experience is different. I wonder, if you do feel you have too many triggers, it may not be good for you to watch. I won't be watching, so that might be two of us.

I hope you find joy and some peace in your family and the things you enjoy. You have been through a lot, do take care of yourself, you deserve to be well.

I have hope that in 2021 we will all feel better.

With love

Judith x

[guinea1 in reply to NanaJudith_APP_Vol]

Thank you tes I suppose I do carry a burden, but can't help it just don't now how to deal with it yet so I don't feel their pain.I have stopped watching soaps as they caused too much stress, but was a little intrigued but the hollyoaks story, you are right best for me not to watch as will be too painful and trigger the past memories and I know what my doctor would say.. hopefully I will hear how well they have done it.. eastenders with stacey I did watch and possibly was when thing began to unravel as told myself I was over it all and challenged myself to watch it... I have watch doctors when I didnt know it would be about PPP and cope as could see the mother had it and that was ok as it just happened within the story... it was easier though upset me to cope with.

And yes I think 2021 will be better for everyone x

[Pikorua Volunteer]

Dear all,

the only time I watched soaps was in the early nineties for studying English like home and away and neighbours, I believe I also got into one of the English soaps, can not remember the name.

I read through all your accounts and feel the pain...it is so important to distinguish between factual summative and fictive story lines. I am not sure why human nature wants to be bombarded and/or continuously brainwashed by soaps.

Even at this moment it is very difficult to extract proper news without the ill intention of misinformation. I am talking especially about the political climate. You have to carefully read between the line as the conservative outlook is drawing the mass population into a believe pattern which quite often and bluntly said have converted into pure lies resulting into many U-turns.

This year has been such a difficult one for many, why would you want to absorb further hardship and pain such as fictive hospital programmes and soaps, which often bends the truth.

Only those once with real empathy and compassion will raise awareness such as APP. Actors are acting out, hallucinations have to be experienced in order to express the cheer pain and suffering of mums.

It is quite funny as I am striving to be none judgmental, but I just do not wish any mum going into a cul-de-sac, because of a stupid soap opera.

At the end we have to recover and be grounded for our purpose in life. I only can suggest try to moderate data overload via social media and other sources.

Stay safe and well mums

[guinea1 in reply to Pikorua]

One day I will beable to write my story and help others , think staying to the real stories here is comferting though I have only read a few...

[Ellie_at_APP Partner]

Thanks so much for sharing all your experiences, it's so good we can all be there for each other and support each other.

I find it can be painful and quite triggering to watch dramatic versions of PP, as well as also compare what is portrayed to my own experience, and question whether it is really accurate or not. I too was ill like you Marshman, within days after my baby was born, though I know many other women who were ill a couple of months afterwards - I guess each of our stories are different.

With Hollyoaks we at APP hope that our collaboration will help to raise awareness of PP and APP to a younger audience than we traditionally reach, reducing the shock that women and families feel when they develop PP for the first time, and helping them to seek help earlier. Whilst TV soaps do not aim to be true to life, we hope that our input has enabled writers and actors to better understand the experience, in order to raise awareness and address some of the misunderstandings surrounding PP.

Our collaboration with EastEnders reached 5.7 million viewers with information on postpartum psychosis on Christmas day, 2015. We hope our Hollyoaks collaboration will have a similar impact.

Take care everyone,

Ellie X

[guinea1]

I think the shock on families is aweful, so maybe though dramas it will gently introduce others to this illness and being able to find support in APP will be less frightening, as my family had never heard of it and feared I would not recover it was so sudden.... the more awareness and understanding, I am sure will lead to greater funding which is so badly needed xx

[Ellie_at_APP Partner in reply to guinea1]

Hi guinea1,

Yes I would hope that things are better for people now when they become unwell with PP - even if sometimes not everyone receives the best / right care (some women going to general psych ward etc for example), they can hopefully find APP and get accurate information and peer support etc, which I know wasn't there when you were unwell.

I found APP a year after I was unwell, and it was so important for my emotional recovery, processing what happened (writing my story on this lovely forum mainly, and supporting others), and now having the privilege to work for APP. I don't know how I would have fully emotionally recovered without this support, hence why I'm so glad that we can be here for others, including yourself, which I hope has helped you just a little bit (though I know there is no quick recovery from everything you have been through).

I'm so sorry guinea1 for all the trauma you've had to deal with. Do keep writing on here, and connecting with us all, I do hope it helps. And yes definitely, avoiding Hollyoaks sounds really wise.

Ellie X