Postpartum Depression: You're Not Broken — You're Not Alone - Geelong Therapy
Motherhood is often portrayed as a time of bliss — baby cuddles, soft blankets, warm moments. But for many women, the early weeks and months after birth can feel far from peaceful.Instead, it can feel like a fog has rolled in.
Like you're watching your life happen from a distance.
Like you're supposed to be happy — but you're just not.
If this sounds familiar, you are not weak, or a bad mum, or ungrateful. You may be experiencing postpartum depression (PPD) — and you are far from alone.
What Is Postpartum Depression?
Postpartum depression is a common, treatable mental health condition that affects roughly 1 in 7 mothers in the weeks, months, or even year following birth. It can begin days after giving birth, or it can creep in slowly and unexpectedly.
It’s more than just “baby blues,” which are brief, hormone-driven mood swings common in the first week or two postpartum. PPD is more persistent, deeper, and more disruptive.
And it’s not your fault.
What Does Postpartum Depression Feel Like?
Postpartum depression can look and feel different for every mother, but some common experiences include:
Persistent sadness, emptiness, or numbness
Feeling disconnected from your baby
Difficulty sleeping (even when baby sleeps) or oversleeping
Loss of interest or pleasure in things you used to enjoy
Intense irritability, anger, or anxiety
Thoughts of worthlessness or guilt
Trouble concentrating or making decisions
In more severe cases: thoughts of harming yourself or feeling like your baby would be better off without you
If you’re feeling any of these symptoms, please know: you are not alone, and you are not a bad mother. You are a human being going through an enormous physical and emotional transition.
You Are Not Weak — You Are Human
There is a deeply ingrained cultural belief that new motherhood should come naturally and feel joyful. But that belief leaves little room for the complexity of what many women actually experience — trauma, exhaustion, identity shifts, hormone crashes, and enormous emotional upheaval.
You can love your baby deeply and still feel overwhelmed. You can want to be a mother and still feel like you're drowning. These truths can coexist — and they do for so many.
What Helps?
If you're in the thick of postpartum depression, you might feel like nothing can help. But there is hope — and healing is possible.
Here are some first steps:
Talk to Someone
A trusted GP, maternal child health nurse can help you name what’s going on and support your next steps.
Reach Out to Nurture Geelong
We offer specialised postnatal counselling for mums navigating the early years. You don’t have to pretend you’re fine with us — we hold space for all of it.
Let Someone In
Whether it’s your partner, a friend, a sibling, or a neighbour — tell someone how you're really doing. Let them drop off a meal, hang out the laundry, or simply sit beside you.
Get to Know Your Options
For some mothers, therapy is enough. For others, medication may be needed — and there is no shame in that. Every recovery journey looks different.
Need Support?
📞 Call your GP or maternal child health nurse for immediate help.
💬 Reach out to us at nurturegeelong.com.au
📱 Crisis support is available 24/7 via:
PANDA: 1300 726 306 (panda.org.au)
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
You're not meant to do this alone — and you don’t have to.
The Nurture Geelong Team