Barzakh’s unflappable look confronts the dark reality of postpartum depression

Although the Internet has been abuzz for the past few weeks with controversial information Barzakhthe program left me in a quandary for completely unrelated and unexpected reasons.

First Zindagi decided to remove this series from YouTube in Pakistan, my editor and I were planning a story on the show’s themes of mental illness and generational trauma. But then, the fourth episode went down with the most vivid, honest, and vivid portrayal of postpartum depression in South Asian cinema.

Barzakh it brings about a battle with postpartum depression

The episode begins with Shehryar’s (Fawad Khan) wife, Leena (Eman Suleman), struggling with a breast milk pump. Shehryar tells him, “Let’s bite the bullet and switch to formula.”

Next we see Leena in the bathroom swallowing a large pill and putting her face in a sink full of water to drown out her cries.

In the next scene, the couple are sitting on opposite sides of the sofa, their heads in their hands, signs of new parenthood with fatigue and lack of sleep visible on their faces. Their silence is interrupted by their crying baby, Haaris. Leena goes to comfort Haaris, but the only words that come out of her mouth are a silent series of “hush, hush, hush.” Shehryar rushes to take the child from her.

Over a period of time. Haaris is bigger and more demanding now. Leena, with an unclean face and dirty hair, has disappeared from being a mother. We watch him struggle to feed a crying Haaris while watching clips of his old life as a stand-up comedian. Haaris projectile vomit all over the face.

Then we see Leena whispering goodbye to her baby boy, swallow all the pills, and sink to the bottom of the tub. Haaris, blissfully unaware as a child would be, smiles and watches TV outside as her mother sinks to her death.

Maternal mental health: a slow recovery

When a new mother struggles with the weight of depression and finally succumbs to it, her death does not stop immediately. It is a slow unwinding, the death of several parts that happen one by one.

I know this because, five years ago, I tried to kill myself and was diagnosed with postpartum depression – which means prenatal and postnatal depression.

Since my diagnosis, I have researched and written about perinatal depression for a long time. Through my research, I found more questions than answers – for example, why is this completely preventable and treatable medical condition still taking the lives of new mothers? However, one thing I know for sure is that women like Leena don’t wake up one day and decide to kill themselves. They are destructive. They become biological and social targets.

I was six weeks pregnant when, seemingly out of the blue (but actually, due to the hormonal imbalances that occur in a woman’s body during the first trimester), I I was overcome by a severe episode of depression during pregnancy, something I had never experienced before. until my diagnosis, and the strong desire to end my life.

It was like a switch had been turned off in my head. Overnight, I went from feeling pregnant to crying in the shower, thinking it would be easier for everyone if I died.

My husband is a doctor, which means I was lucky enough to have a medical professional walking around my house who was quick to see me through the dangerous headspace. Within hours, my mother was moving in with us, and I was referred to my obstetrician and gynecologist, who referred me to a psychiatrist.

The first psychiatrist I went to was a middle-aged desi woman. He asked me why I was not happy. I told him I was here because I was wondering the same thing. He told me that what I was feeling was not normal and that women are usually very happy during pregnancy.

I left the clinic crying.

The second psychiatrist I met was trained in maternal health, specifically prenatal depression. He pulled me out of the mental state I was in. She told me that she knew women who suffered from severe anxiety and depression during and after their pregnancy. These women, like me, had considered suicide. And these women were already healthy with healthy children.

Not just blues kids

An astonishing 80 percent of women will experience the “baby blues,” which is when new moms feel down or depressed in the first week or two after giving birth. This usually resolves on its own. However, perinatal depression is a complete medical emergency.

Symptoms vary widely from excessive crying, anxiety and worry to inability to care for oneself and the baby, as well as obsessive thoughts, including wanting to harm oneself or harm the baby.

Dr Sue Varma, psychiatrist and author of Having Hope That Workstells me that she often hears female members of a depressed mother’s family say harsh things like, “What’s wrong with her? I was never helped with a child and I had a lot on my plate.”

These types of statements are not only unhelpful but very dangerous because the new mother is already guilty of feeling out of control and trying to stay afloat.

Depressed mothers: it’s more common than you think

A 2018 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study estimated that 1 in 8 women experienced postpartum depression symptoms, and according to the Pew Research Center, from 2008 to In 2019, about 1 in 11 women aged 15-44 who died by suicide died. pregnant or just gave birth.

These statistics are for American women. I couldn’t find anything comparable to Pakistani women except three heads. Another article, written a decade ago, was aptly titled: ‘Postpartum depression in Pakistan: An ignored issue’ and confirmed the prevalence of post-partum depression. childbirth in Pakistani women from 28-63pc – the highest in Asia. A second article, published in 2017, cited one percent and described postpartum depression as one of the most common “complications” of pregnancy. A third article concludes that, in the UK, postnatal depression is more common in British South Asian women than in white women.

Poor maternal mental health is not just a problem for the depressed mother. It has ramifications for the entire family, which is why partners and even elders in a new mother’s life would do well to pay attention.

“In difficult situations, [perinatal depression] it will not only threaten the mother but also the life of the baby. It can also jeopardize the baby’s social, emotional, psychological and social development. And it affects the other parent. But if it is treated, it can make a 180-degree change where the whole family thrives,” said Dr Varma.

According to Dr Varma, “Before us, every generation of brown people prioritized the happiness of the whole generation before them. But, the new generation is open to treatment and medicine and the importance of life good on an individual level.”

In my case, focusing on myself is what saved my life and my daughter’s.

Weekly therapy during and after my pregnancy, lots of support from loved ones, daily mental health visits, and an antidepressant a day each one you not only gave me my first pregnancy but you gave me the courage to think about the second pregnancy.

My girls are four and two now, and I’m currently trying to wean myself off the antidepressants that gave me the mental strength to bring them both into this world.

Depressed mothers on television

In the West, the issue of mental health during pregnancy has gained momentum due to famous mothers such as Kylie Jenner, Adele, Chrissy Teigen, and Shay Mitchell speaking publicly about their problems.

However, in Pakistan, the medical community and the media are lagging behind, and acknowledging the uncertainty or struggle with motherhood is the latest thing in our society, and this is reflected in the views of us of TV.

In Pakistani cinema, I just remember Share with each other, Dil Umeed To Nahiand अधारी mental health monitoring. In Indian cinema, Chapaak and Palm tree and a short film by Sam Chatterjee Cul-de-Sac pictures of depressed mothers.

As someone who has gone through dark times – and felt shame for failing to have a normal “pregnancy” – I cannot discount the social value of pop culture images of mothers and fathers. -mother-to-be struggling with anxiety and depression. .

In a recent interview, Sarwat Gillani explained how she found herself in the abyss of postpartum depression. And now, we have Asim Abbasi’s fourth installment with a bang Barzakhwhich uses a brutally honest depiction of postpartum depression as a ploy to advance its larger narrative.

If you are reading this, chances are you have been or know someone who is at risk of hearing what Leena is saying. Barzakh feelings. I’m living proof here to tell you: you don’t have to struggle alone.

In fact, you don’t have to fight at all. Perinatal depression is treatable and doesn’t have to be a lifelong condition. With the right city, you can get better. Honestly, you deserve to get better so that you can be there not only to raise but to enjoy watching your baby grow.