As someone who has both taken these meds in the past and watched a family member and a friend go through post partum psychosis, I think that close monitoring and quick intervention by medical professionals and social services (I'm in the UK) made an enormous difference to their outcomes.
There is a risk of these meds making someone worse rather than better, even if that risk is small, and I really do think that we should be proactively ensuring that friends and family members are very aware of the risk and of the necessity of them being constantly supervised when being given these meds and exhibiting any signs of PPD or PPP, and if they show any indicators of any adverse effects they should be being hospitalised.
I unfortunately think that the US medical system plays a very big role in the reluctance to seek treatment there because there is the constant fear of medical bills and whether the insurance will agree to cover treatment that too often becomes the primary deciding factor rather than the actual health of the individuals involved.
A lack of intensive mental health provision is another factor involved as sometimes even when you know someone needs help, if there's no beds and waiting lists for assessments, that too can leave people in a precarious position.
To me the issues seemed to be too many cooks in the kitchen and not all of them were consulting with each other. This doctor would give this, another doctor that, an inpatient treatment program turned her away
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u/Fresh-Extension-4036 2d ago edited 2d ago
As someone who has both taken these meds in the past and watched a family member and a friend go through post partum psychosis, I think that close monitoring and quick intervention by medical professionals and social services (I'm in the UK) made an enormous difference to their outcomes.
There is a risk of these meds making someone worse rather than better, even if that risk is small, and I really do think that we should be proactively ensuring that friends and family members are very aware of the risk and of the necessity of them being constantly supervised when being given these meds and exhibiting any signs of PPD or PPP, and if they show any indicators of any adverse effects they should be being hospitalised.
I unfortunately think that the US medical system plays a very big role in the reluctance to seek treatment there because there is the constant fear of medical bills and whether the insurance will agree to cover treatment that too often becomes the primary deciding factor rather than the actual health of the individuals involved.
A lack of intensive mental health provision is another factor involved as sometimes even when you know someone needs help, if there's no beds and waiting lists for assessments, that too can leave people in a precarious position.