Alanis Morissette is having "compulsive, obsessive thoughts" as a result of her postpartum depression.
Alanis Morissette
The 45-year-old singer is currently battling the mental health condition for the third time following the birth of her son Winter in August, and has said that although she's feeling "less depression" this time around, she is instead battling intense anxiety, as well as symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Alanis - who also suffered depression after the births of her other two children, son Ever Imre, eight, and three-year-old daughter Onyx Solace - said: "This time around it's less depression, it's more anxiety and a little more of the compulsive, obsessive thoughts."
The 'Ironic' hitmaker - who has her children with her husband Mario 'Souleye' Treadway - says her thoughts sometimes contain "images that are horrifying", including the possibility of something happening to her loved ones.
She added: "A lot of times [they are] about safety, about the people you love, your loved ones, your children. And then me just having to remind myself, like, 'Oh, nope. This is just postpartum depression swooping in again. Stop.' "
Alanis knows what to expect from the condition after battling it twice before, especially because she sought help from a professional as soon as she found herself feeling depressed after her first pregnancy.
The 'You Oughta Know' singer explained: "I spoke with a professional who knew all about postpartum depression, and I asked her, 'Does this go away if I just white knuckle through it?' And she said, 'No, it actually gets worse.' So, as soon as I heard that, I thought, 'It can get worse than this.' So I went on medication right away.
"[I have] moments where I think, 'This is gonna be kinda easy,' or I do get a little cocky. I don't think of it in terms of cured, because I know that postpartum isn't something that lasts a week. For me, it is at least two years, maybe a little longer."
Although speaking out about her struggle is tough, Alanis says she wants people to know what postpartum depression "really looks like from the inside", so that it no longer has a stigma attached to it.
Speaking in a taped interview for 'CBS This Morning', she said: "If the goal is stigma-free perception of any mental illness or mental health conversation, understanding and giving the details of what it really looks like from the inside is important."
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