For Black Moms Battling Postpartum Depression, Seeking Help Is Not Always Easy
Tahwii Spicer’s birthing experience was fairly easy. She had chosen to have her daughter at a birthing center and the presence of her family members made her feel at ease. After the birth of her daughter in June 2018, Spicer hired a postpartum doula to help take care of the baby.
However, a few days after giving birth, things began to change. Her husband had received news that he was going out of state for a whole month and dealing with the news while still taking care of a newborn and a young toddler began to take its toll on Spicer’s mental health.
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“Just thinking about that was stressful,” Spicer tells SheKnows. “I was heartbroken that he would miss so much of that time with the baby and lose out on some of that new bonding time.”
Spicer was overwhelmed and distraught, but what she didn’t realize was that there was more to her feelings than her husband’s departure.
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“One day, I remember coming downstairs with the baby and needed to change her diaper or something,” Spicer recalls. “I didn’t have everything I needed and I broke down and started crying in front of my husband. I had already been sort of short-tempered, irritated easily, and I was not sleeping well because of the nursing all night long.”
After taking a postpartum depression (PPD) test online — which confirmed that she indeed was battling the illness — Spicer finally reached out to her midwife for help.
In March 2020, two years after Spicer gave birth to her daughter, Candice D’Angelo from Miami gave birth to her son. Since it was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this meant being stuck at home alone with a newborn and two other children.
“I was very alone because my husband had to continue to work,” D’Angelo tells SheKnows.
However, when the depressive symptoms started to kick in, she simply thought that they were tied to pregnancy hormones. “I was crying a lot, a sort of lonely, continuous cry that didn’t really stop,” she explains. “I also had a lot of anxiety, especially during the nighttime, and I felt like I wanted to get out of the house and run away.”
It was only after D’Angelo talked to a friend that she realized that she had PPD and started seeking professional help.
Like Spicer and D’Angelo, many women experience depression after giving birth.
In a 2018 CDC study of women who recently gave birth, over 13 percent of respondents had symptoms of PPD. However, research has shown that Black women experience it at a higher rate than white women. The same 2018 study found that over 18 percent of the Black women in the study experienced symptoms of PPD, versus just over 11 percent of white women.
For Black moms, these statistics trace back to a plethora of factors like a history of traumatic birth experiences and a higher possibility of maternal deaths, which can spike their anxiety. Some Black women also reside in stressful living environments, have food and housing insecurity and lack access to quality health care, which are all contributing factors to PPD.
Despite these higher incidences, Black moms are less likely to receive treatment for postpartum depression. A 2011 study found a stark contrast in the treatment of PPD, with 57 percent of Black women being less likely to start treatment than white women.
“The significant disparities and historically traumatic medical practices conducted on Black bodies has led to a distrust in the healthcare system. Many Black women also lack representation in healthcare due to the lack of diversity and experience inaccurate diagnosing.”
“The significant disparities and historically traumatic medical practices conducted on Black bodies has led to a distrust in the healthcare system,” Shontel Cargill, LMFT, Regional Clinical Director at Thriveworks and specialist in postpartum and perinatal mental health, tells SheKnows. “Many Black women also lack representation in healthcare due to the lack of diversity and experience inaccurate diagnosing.” In other cases, some medical professionals may delay screening Black women for postpartum depression.
D’Angelo, for instance, had to advocate for herself to get help.
“Looking back, I feel as though my doctor should have had better protocols and checks in place to monitor patients postpartum,” she explains. “It was my primary care doctor that discovered the signs and wanted to screen me. But even then, it still wasn’t done right away.”
Many Black women also struggle with the symptoms on their own for fear of being deemed as an unfit mom and risk having child-welfare services getting involved.
While this wasn’t inherently a big fear for D’Angelo, the thought that her doctors had a duty to call child services on patients that were labeled with depression still crossed her mind.
In addition, the stigma around mental illnesses in the Black community also plays a role in the lack of treatment for mental illnesses. According to the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, only about 25 percent of Black people seek mental care as opposed to 40 percent of white people. More often than not, many Black people resort to seeking religious guidance and support from friends and family as opposed to professional help when faced with psychological difficulties.
Rachel Woodley, a London-based certified counselor at The Lifeline Counselling, told SheKnows that Black women have spoken to her about being a mother as something that they are supposed to do. The idea of struggling in a position that’s made to feel like a huge part of your purpose can cause an internal narrative that leads women to think or tell people that they are okay.
“Often, what they mean is that ‘you won’t understand’ or ‘you won’t help me anyway,'” she said.
However, it’s important for Black women to educate themselves on postpartum depression and what it looks like. According to the CDC, symptoms of postpartum depression include having a lasting sad, anxious, or empty mood; feelings of hopelessness and pessimism; having problems concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions; losing energy; crying more than usual; and feeling distant from your baby or doubting your ability to care for your baby. If you start experiencing such symptoms, it’s important to talk to your doctor as soon as possible.
There are also various online resources dedicated to PPD and mental health in Black women, such as:
She Matters: A community designed to support the mental health needs of Black women.
Postpartum Support International (PSI): Founded to increase awareness about the emotional changes that women experience during pregnancy and postpartum.
The Motherhood Group: An online group dedicated to share and support the Black maternal experience.
Spicer and D’Angelo were fortunate enough to get the professional help they needed. However, for many other Black women, accessing affordable mental health services is still a tall order.
“Private therapy feels like a luxury and it shouldn’t,” Woodley says. “Mental health services like to refer internally, and there isn’t enough representation there. We need to be able to outsource who we work with so that we can break some of the barriers to accessing mental health services.”
You should also not feel ashamed to seek professional help. The narrative that Black women are strong has for years presented a false notion that seeking help is a sign of weakness. The truth of the matter is that we all need help sometimes, and seeking assistance when needed is actually a sign of strength.
“We must also advocate for ourselves when we feel the treatment we are receiving is not adequate or meeting our needs,” Cargill explains. “We are worthy of quality care and in partnership with our medical providers, there is hope to overcome the challenges of postpartum depression.”
Before you go, check out these affordable apps to help your mental health:
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