Sometimes postpartum depression shows up as rage instead of sadness

Transcript

Sometimes postpartum depression looks more like rage than like sadness. Hi, if you don't know me, I'm Dr. Jana. I'm a licensed psychologist who specializes in moms. And postpartum rage can sound like, why am I the only person who notices what needs to be done? Or it could look like snapping at your partner because they left a bottle out on the counter. Or they asked you where the diapers are and that was super triggering for you. But when we think about anger, anger is a signal that something is amiss. So it's not really about the bottle or the diapers. what's happening postpartum is that you are touched out, you have chronic sleep loss, you are overstimulated, you're under supported, and often moms are the ones responsible for everything. So anger is often the emotion that shows up when sadness and when exhaustion and resentment have nowhere else to go. So I'm often telling my clients anger is a secondary emotion. It's an emotion that we feel when underneath there is something primary missing. So often anger shows up when what's really happening underneath is we're grieving. We're sad. So don't ignore that anger. It's a signal. And it probably means that you need more support, more rest. You need more equal division of responsibility in your house. And if you need more support in the season, I work with moms in over 40 states. You can check the link in my bio. And as always, follow along for more honest conversations about motherhood and mental health.