Treatment of Postpartum Depression with Antidepressants? My Story
- Antonia Schachter
- Jan 3, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 22
My 1991 Story: From Perfect Pregnancy to Midnight Panic Attacks
It started with nightmares and progressed to midnight panic attacks in about 3 nights. It wasn't long after that when I woke up to the real-life monster, and it felt like I'd gone to hell. My body that had just brought this amazing bit of life into the world had seemingly betrayed me. I would not recover for decades, and as of today, I am still on a journey toward healing from being prescribed antidepressants for postpartum depression.
One of my earliest and deepest desires was to bring a child into the world and love it unconditionally, in a way I had not been. I wanted to be a mother who respected the individual I was deliberately bringing into this world, knowing that I would never treat it as a thing I owned. And I had fallen in love with the man who was meant to be on this journey with me. I believed in the healing power of bringing new life into the world with someone you love. We were embarking on a grand adventure that would benefit our new little family and the whole wide world!
You gotta love hormones, right? Hormones. Remember that word. You'll need it later.
It's 1991, the Internet is now available for commercial use, and the number of computers on the net reaches 1 million. Microsoft releases MS-DOS 5.0. The Ice covering the Arctic has decreased by 2% in the last 10 years, tropical rainforests shrink by 1% annually as a result of human activities, and I'm pregnant!
It's great to be alive. I'm the healthiest I have been in a while. I'm enjoying the PERFECT pregnancy, and I trust my terrific Ob-gyn implicitly, whom I have a bit of a crush on.
I'm in love with my husband and over the moon about the family we are about to create. I have nothing left but to get my baby birthed and enjoy the fruits of my labor (Pun INTENDED!).
Fast forward to bringing our little nugget home. In just a matter of days, adjusting to life with a baby, I started waking up in the middle of the night, hyperventilating, and in a physical state of complete panic. I felt intense fear. Trembling, sweating, and crying.
It took several hours each night to fall back asleep, thanks to the hugs and support from my husband. Amazingly, the baby was sleeping 6 hours a night. Yet I felt like I was never going to feel normal again.
The "Just 6 Months" Promise That Lasted Decades
My Ob-gyn called it postpartum anxiety caused by . . . you got it . . . hormones. Just 6 months on antidepressants, he said, and I'd be back to my old self. Simple, right?
Antidepressants for hormone changes?
Today, most media outlets describe the causes of PPD as a laundry list of mental health conditions. Conditions that point to personal or familial mental health symptoms that tend to run in families. Although no scientific evidence demonstrates causality, it may explain susceptibility. Overall, antidepressants seem to be the first line of diagnosis and treatment, rather than directly targeting the hormonal fluctuations (e.g., abrupt drops in estrogen, progesterone, and related neuroactive steroids) that many researchers link to the condition's onset.
This approach treats PPD primarily as a major depressive episode, rather than a purely hormonal imbalance that might self-resolve or respond better to hormone-modulating interventions, psychological, and social support.
Update 2026: The Prevalence of PostPartum Depression Has Grown
1991 Era: Prevalence was consistently estimated at ~10–13% in studies (e.g., meta-analyses pooling data from the era), with no major national surveillance yet.
Now (2020s): Self-reported symptoms hover around 1 in 8 (12–13%), but clinical/diagnosis rates have risen sharply (e.g., to 19% in large 2021 data), reflecting better identification rather than necessarily a true epidemic increase.
Factors influencing trends: Increased screening (e.g., universal recommendations since ~2015–2020), increased awareness, and COVID.
Greed. Big Pharma. Centuries of Paternalistic Patterns in Women's Healthcare.
Here are some key trends and statistics on the rise in SSRI (and overall antidepressant) prescribing for women's mood issues in the US during the 1990s to 2000s. This period saw a dramatic shift, driven by the introduction of SSRIs (e.g., Prozac in 1988, Zoloft in 1991, Paxil in 1992), the 1997 FDA relaxation of direct-to-consumer advertising, DSM-IV changes in 1994 (adding postpartum onset guidance), and increased primary care prescribing for depression, anxiety, and related conditions in women.
Overall antidepressant use in US adults roughly quadrupled from the early 1990s (~2–6%) to the early 2000s (~10%+), mainly due to SSRIs replacing older medications.
Women were 2–2.5 times more likely than men to get antidepressants; women's prescribing rates rose sharply (e.g., from ~10.9% in mid-1990s to ~17.6% by 2006–2007 in primary care data).
Among patients with depression, antidepressant treatment increased from ~70% of visits in 1987 to 89% in 2001, with SSRIs jumping from near-zero to 69% by 2001 (sertraline, paroxetine, fluoxetine leading).
Antidepressant use during pregnancy grew from ~2% of deliveries in 1996 to 7.6% by 2004–2005, driven by SSRIs (often off-label for mood issues, including postpartum).
General antidepressant use rose nearly 400% from 1988–1994 (~2–3%) to 2005–2008 (~10%), with women aged 40–59 hitting the highest rates (~23% by 2005–2008).
Primary care doctors handled more depression visits (from 50% in 1987 to 64% in 2001), where SSRIs were quick and common for women's mood complaints.
SSRI use in depression patients climbed to 38% by 1992, 60% by 1996, and 69% by 2000–2001, tying into broader views of women's reproductive/mood changes as treatable (e.g., Prozac rebranded for PMDD in 2000).
Postpartum SSRI starts increased earlier over time (e.g., at 8 weeks postpartum from ~2.6 per 100 pregnancies in 2000–2004 to higher later), reflecting the overall rise in women's mood prescribing.
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a profoundly individual experience and is a widespread global issue. It is a universally female experience, with a small percentage of men reporting feelings of PPD as well. Once a woman is 'diagnosed' with PPD, she is considered by the Mental Health Industrial Complex as clinically depressed. A diagnosis that also resolves on its own in 3 - 6 months. There are exceptions, of course. A small fraction takes longer or can be quite severe.
Final Thoughts: So, why are we prescribing dubious medications that stop working after a short period and are incredibly challenging and potentially life-threatening to stop them?
For some, it becomes a lifetime of taking medication that can cause debilitating and sometimes lifelong side effects even after stopping. Antidepressants work directly on your central nervous system. A medication that directly affects the central nervous system can also cause long-term chronic symptoms.
Your prescriber may be casual about prescribing antidepressants and antipsychotics, but you should not be casual about filling the script. Buyer beware.
Mental Health is a concept created by pharmaceutical companies, psychiatric academics, clinical psychiatrists, and the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The APA is a professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, the largest psychiatric organization globally, and the official Author of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which was first published in 1952.
Sources for this article and further reading.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/books/pharma-gerald-posner.html (Book Review: PHARMA: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America, by Gerald Posner)
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