Celeb moms talk about postpartum depression and limits of the ‘reveal’

Story highlights Postpartum depression has gone from taboo to a talking point Millions of other women experience symptoms but lack the means to receive treatment CNN — The task of destigmatizing postpartum depression has been taken up by an unexpected group in recent years: the celebrity mom. “At the same time, there has been a growing emphasis for them to be advocates for various kinds of mental illness problems, so part of this does come from a feeling of altruism and wanting to use their platform to reach out and help make it OK.” When public figures, such as Trump, reveal their postpartum depression after recovery, it straddles the line between radical and safe. Shara Brofman, a psychologist focusing on reproductive mental health at the Seleni Institute, told CNN that she is glad to see women sharing their postpartum depression stories and understands why most women would feel comfortable sharing them only after they’ve gotten better. This allows women with postpartum depression and others to truly understand this very real illness.” Both said that as this conversation evolves, they would like to see more women addressing the full spectrum of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, or PMADs, and not just postpartum depression.