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Thanks, Houston Chronicle

Jul 31 2006 | Comments 0

In the years since Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub as a result of postpartum depression and mental illness, I’ve had many people ask me about the difference between postpartum psychosis and lower-level sadness that can sometimes take over after pregnancy. Brooke Shields, believe it or not, did an exemplary job of articulating the difference in her memoir, but I know most people aren’t reading that. So kudos to the Houston Chronicle for taking the question on in a Q&A with a psychiatrist. It helps clarify the issue for the layperson, especially those of us terrified of having children.

Psychosis? Baby Blues? What’s the difference?

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liz | 11:47 AM | Uncategorized

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About

Liz Spikol was born in Philadelphia sometime in the 20th century. She started writing about her experience as a person with mental illness in 1999, while employed at Philadelphia Weekly as the paper’s managing editor. Aside from serving as that paper’s web editor, music editor, staff writer, senior editor, executive editor and a host of other random roles that she couldn’t make up her mind about, she has also worked as a Spanish teacher, as a Certified Peer Specialist during Philly’s system-wide transformation and as a communications specialist for a prison reform organization. Currently, she works at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania and writes book reviews for PW. This blog — named one of the Top 10 Bipolar Blogs of 2007 and 2008 by PsychCentral — is about medications, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, SAD (and many other acronyms), mad pride, Big Pharma, celebrities, hospitals, stigma and the recovery movement. And other stuff.