Alanis Morissette has bravely opened up on what it is like to live with postpartum depression and anxiety in a moving post.
Alanis Morissette
The 'You Oughta Know' singer welcomed her third child, son Winter, into the world in August, and after experiencing the condition after the births of her first two children, son Ever Imre, eight, and three-year-old daughter Onyx Solace, Alanis has now shared how the mental health issue affects her
In a moving post on her personal website, the Canadian rocker - who is married to rapper Mario 'Souleye' Treadway - wrote: "I have answers and protocols and solutions and RXs to be sure.
"I'll share more specifics once I have my wits back about me. Hormonal. Sleep deprivation. Fogginess. Physical pain. Isolation. Anxiety. Cortisol. Recovery from childbirth (as beautiful and intense as mine was at home, dream birth.), integrating new angel baby with older angel babies. Marriage. All kinds of PTSD triggers. Overstimulation. This body. Attempting to crawl back to some semi-recognizable configuration. Some around my relationship with needing. Reaching out. Seeing how great I am at setting boundaries in some areas, but how blind-spot-ty I have been with them in others. Reaching this point again where the sleeping giants of my survival strategies are being roused....the persevering. The soldiering. The show-up-no-matter-how-broken-things-feel-ing. Yes, the addictions. In my case...work addiction--over-giving. Over-serving. Over-do-ing. Over-over-ing. All lovely qualities without the 'over.' At worst: beautiful human qualities that are on 11 in a way that the body ultimately can't sustain. the #InvisibleLoad with today's normalized cluttered lifestyle taking on epic proportions."
Although she is currently living with postnatal depression, as she has lived through the condition twice before, Alanis can see "another side" coming when she gets over the mood disorder and she is extremely grateful for all the support she has had from her husband and loved ones.
She added: "I have my eye on that prize again ... even as I drag my ass through the molasses.
"Support. Food. Friends. Sun. Bio-identical hormones and SSRIs at the ready. Some parts of the care-prep has been a Godsend, and well-planned. But for all of this preparation - PD is still a sneaky monkey with a machete - working its way through my psyche and body and days and thoughts and bloodwork levels."
The 'Ironic' hitmaker also criticised Western society for not properly respecting and caring for women after child birth like so many other cultures do.
She stated: "I see it changing, which is so heartening ... but the general way is bereft of the honouring and tenderness and attunement and village-ness that postpartum deeply warrants.
The new mom, the new parent(s) is creating the foundation for the circumventing of so much of the pain and divisiveness that we see in the world. Preventatively. We are on the ground floor of creating secure attachment. From which ALL other contributions to the world of relationships, service, politics, authentic self-expression, 'success' and LOVE are borne. THIS is the epicenter. THIS is where it all begins (certainly in utero too, but more on that some other time). THIS is where the fabric of our culture, of our world, is crafted. On physical, emotional, neurobiological, chemical, spiritual, mental, existential, practical levels. Wouldn't it be cool if we treated all postpartum moms and families with this awareness and honor? "Even if the treadmill of the quickening of our culture didn't change pace ... That there might be a life raft of empathy toward the feminine life-givers who bear it all and give more than words can even begin to touch on."
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