From the author: In a special situation, you can seek professional support and help from a psychologist. You can sign up for a psychological consultation on maternity issues by mobile: +7-916-717-17-47. Read more at . “Thanks to the child, your life will turn into a fragrance... May motherhood flourish in you.” OSHO. Let’s talk about the postpartum period in a woman’s life? A woman who has a baby in the first days after childbirth experiences a whole range of experiences, a variety of feelings. Half of these women experience the so-called “postpartum blues” (Baby Blues), a pronounced decrease in mood. Stress contributes to the decrease in mood. In this case, the stress factor is both childbirth and hormonal changes, as well as responsibility for the baby’s life. Such states - states of depression, depression can occur after any stressful (psychotraumatic) impact. Perhaps in the first days after childbirth, a feeling of sadness does not leave you, or maybe you fall into melancholy. These conditions are caused by the abandonment of the previous life, its restructuring taking into account the needs of the newborn. A woman who has given birth suffers inevitable losses, realizing the changes in her life, assesses the upcoming difficulties associated with caring for and caring for the child, his upbringing. All mothers probably know the feeling of helplessness and confusion, which causes anxiety. You are afraid of harming your child with your careless actions; you are afraid that he might suddenly get sick. Anxieties of this kind are justified and very soon the young mother manages to cope with them, but sometimes they become dominant in the woman’s mind, she ceases to be interested in what is happening around her, fatigue accumulates, and fears do not go away. Anxiety becomes constant and painful, a feeling of one’s own uselessness and worthlessness arises, chronic fatigue occurs, irritability appears, the feeling of joy, interest in communication, in life in general disappears, appetite and sleep are disturbed, sometimes there is even a complete reluctance to see the child, the child begins to irritate. When you notice a loss of interest in the baby, then you feel guilty. You reproach yourself for your failure as a mother, for your reluctance to care for and care for your newborn. You are looking for reasons for dissatisfaction with yourself, blaming yourself for your lack of teaching abilities. The feeling of guilt gets worse, you become sad. All these are manifestations of the blues after childbirth. It is not at all necessary that all these experiences arise together; one or another combination of them can occur; the individual psychological characteristics of the woman are important here. And yet there are common features. On the one hand, loss of interest in the newborn, reluctance to interact with him, on the other hand, dissatisfaction with oneself: with a new social role - the role of a mother, dissatisfaction with one’s own body. Most often, postpartum blues appear between the second and fifth days after giving birth and soon go away, while postpartum depression appears no less than ten days later and lasts from several weeks or months to several years. It is important to distinguish between the blues after childbirth and postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is a painful condition in which the combination of the above feelings is pathological. In the most difficult cases, a woman can lie all day without getting out of bed, refuse food and communication, including with the baby, she becomes tearful, and sex with her husband causes a feeling of disgust. These are already symptoms that require seeking specialized medical help. To make a clinical diagnosis of postpartum depression, it is necessary that depressive symptoms are persistent and begin within the first two months after childbirth. In rare cases, postpartum depression develops into postpartum psychosis. Psychosis is a withdrawal from reality, which is accompanied by delusional or!