KATHRYN Wright thought she knew how post-natal depression affected women.
After all, she was a second-time mum and a nurse who’d helped many women through their illness.
But it wasn’t until what she describes as a fog descended upon her that she really understood.
“You can’t see anything clearly,” she says.
Mrs Wright and her friend Nicole Swila are training to run 10 kilometres in this year’s Run Melbourne, raising money and awareness for the Post and Ante Natal Depression and Association (PANDA).
The ‘Mad Mummas’ hope to raise $500 for PANDA ahead of the July 15 run in Melbourne.
“I run all the time,” Mrs Wright says. “It’s my medicine.” She says her first personal experience of post-natal depression came as a surprise.
“There was one night when Thomas would not go to sleep and I was breastfeeding every hour. I just wanted him to sleep so desperately.
“PND is devastating. It can cripple a family. You can’t explain to a two-year-old why ‘Mummy can’t see you’.” Mrs Wright says her experiences at the mother-baby unit at the Northpark Private Hospital in Bundoora saved her life.
Mother-baby units help those who are experiencing post-natal depression or need help with their baby at a ‘sleep school’.
“I experienced so much shame and guilt,” Mrs Wright says. “When I was in hospital, none of my friends knew why I was there. It took a long time to be able to talk about it. Now that I’m out of that frame of mind, I understand that PND is an illness.”
She says mothers need to be supported and reassured that if they experience PND, it is OK and there is help available.
More details: panda.org.au.
-Andria Cozza
