I Was Barely Surviving With My Newborn. Then My Doctor Handed Me A Questionnaire — And I Lied About It All.

In a personal essay, a licensed perinatal mental health therapist describes lying on her own postpartum depression screening questionnaire six weeks after giving birth, despite experiencing nonstop panic attacks, severe sleep deprivation and reliance on an old benzodiazepine prescription. She writes that her professional training let her answer in ways that wouldn't trigger concern, because she feared the alternative: a referral into a system where psychiatric wait times stretch for months and providers may not take her insurance or understand perinatal care.

She instead reached out privately to a psychiatrist colleague who connected her within hours to specialized perinatal care compatible with breastfeeding. She notes this outcome depended entirely on professional connections most new mothers, especially the “99%” without a doctor friend on speed dial, simply don't have.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.