Q I've been struggling with postpartum depression for 6 months now. Can I really fully recover? Please tell me honestly.
A If it has persisted beyond 6 months, natural recovery without professional treatment is hard to expect, but if you receive appropriate treatment from now, most people can return to daily life. Treatment being late does not make recovery impossible.
Detailed Answer
To be honest, postpartum depression that has persisted for more than six months tends not to resolve on its own but risks becoming chronic without treatment. However, if you start psychological counseling or antidepressant treatment from now, recovery is possible for most people. The speed of recovery varies with the severity of symptoms, the social support environment, and your sleep state, but more than 80% of patients who receive treatment experience meaningful improvement within 6 to 12 months. What you are going through now is not a lack of willpower but a condition that requires treatment.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
Dongjedang does not consider recovery impossible even after six months have passed. However, at this point we recommend a collaborative care system that combines psychiatric treatment rather than Korean medicine alone. When the state of depleted qi and blood has lasted a long time, replenishment takes more time, but in clinical practice we experience that consistently filling it back up always leads to improvement.
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