Why it took so long to get a postpartum depression pill
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2023
⏱️ 19 minutes
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Summary
How the first-ever postpartum depression pill could change the landscape of maternal health.
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In August, the Food and Drug Administration approved Zurzuvae, the first pill to treat postpartum depression. This is a huge milestone for the serious and potentially life-threatening condition, which can afflict about 1 in 7 women following childbirth.
Unlike other commonly recommended treatments such as talk therapy and antidepressants, the drug is meant to act quickly, working to ease symptoms including mood swings, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of worthlessness, and severe anxiety. Health reporter Sabrina Malhi explains how this new drug works, and why it took so long to develop this medication in the first place.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think it's important to note like I really wanted to be a mother. I really |
| 0:08.6 | immediately felt in love and bonded with both of my children. I felt very overwhelmed in love |
| 0:18.1 | with them. I felt very joyful at the time. |
| 0:22.3 | Claudia Naim Burb first became a mother in 2017. |
| 0:26.0 | She was thrilled to be a mom. |
| 0:28.0 | But she also noticed soon after giving birth to her first child |
| 0:33.4 | that she was struggling with things, |
| 0:35.1 | like sadness, anxiety, and lack of sleep. |
| 0:38.6 | Within a couple of weeks, I started to feel like, |
| 0:41.8 | is this baby blues? Because you you know you hear so much that's |
| 0:45.0 | normal that's normal that's normal that's normal it's so hard and I think |
| 0:49.3 | particularly with mothers, |
| 0:54.6 | are amazing and you're like, no, no, no, I'm really struggling. |
| 0:57.3 | And then they're like, I don't know how you do it. |
| 0:59.2 | And you're like, no, I'm not, please help me. Then in 2020, Claudia gave birth to her second child and she noticed those symptoms |
| 1:09.6 | that she'd felt right after her first pregnancy were back, and they were even more intense. |
| 1:16.0 | It felt like quicksand. |
| 1:17.9 | It felt like I was trying really, really hard to hold on to myself, |
| 1:25.0 | and I could not. |
| 1:26.7 | And I felt like anything that I would grasp, |
| 1:29.4 | like joy or satisfaction, it would be like that would hold me. |
| 1:36.8 | It felt really hopeless. |
... |
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