Postpartum OCD
What is Postpartum OCD?
It is normal and common to experience stress and anxiety after the birth of a baby, and you may periodically worry about accidentally harming your baby. Postpartum OCD or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a mental health condition that can develop after childbirth and goes beyond general stress, anxiety, and general worry. It involves experiencing consistent intrusive thoughts/obsessions and compulsions related to the baby that impact functioning. Examples of obsessive thoughts include thoughts about harming the baby, the baby being harmed, or worries about the baby becoming ill or contaminated with germs. These thoughts feel out of your control, distressing, and frightening. Relatedly, compulsions are done as a way to ease the distress about obsessive thoughts and can include excessively checking on the baby, avoiding certain activities with the baby, excessive cleaning, or consistently seeking reassurance from others.
Intrusive thoughts, or thoughts that pop into your mind without you trying to think them, are common and not necessarily problematic. However, if these thoughts are excessive, interfere with your behavior, or prevent you from caring for your baby, they can become problematic.
Causes and Risk Factors for Postpartum OCD
The exact cause of postpartum OCD is not known, yet it may be related to hormonal changes with childbirth or psychological stress with/following childbirth. Factors that can make it more likely to experience postpartum OCD include a history of anxiety, OCD, or traumatic experiences, or specific factors that make childbirth more difficult, including a distressing childbirth experience or the baby being born with health concerns. This Postpartum OCD Fact Sheet from the International OCD Foundation provides an overview of postpartum OCD.
While obsessive thoughts can seem scary, it is important to remember that these thoughts are not dangerous, and are simply thoughts. Having a thought does not mean you want to act on it. On the contrary, parents are typically very attached to their babies and have no desire to act on their obsessive thoughts. These thoughts do not mean anything about you as a parent or person. They are simply words or images that come into your mind.
Treatment for Postpartum OCD
Since postpartum OCD can be related to hormones, it may be helpful to see your medical provider to check your hormone levels and discuss treatment options if hormones are outside of what would be expected postpartum. Certain medications for mood may also be helpful.
As with other forms of OCD, an effective treatment for postpartum OCD is a form of cognitive behavior therapy called exposure and response prevention (ERP). In general, ERP involves working with a therapist to gradually expose yourself to situations that trigger obsessions while practicing not engaging in compulsions. Each time you engage in a compulsion, you strengthen the need to engage in it more and more. By practicing having an obsession while not doing the compulsion, you lessen the power of the obsessive thought and teach yourself more helpful ways of responding. Over time, OCD symptoms decrease, and they have less interference in your daily life.
This CBT Denver article on contamination OCD provides more information on ERP.
To learn more about postpartum OCD, please contact us at CBT Denver.