While being a mom bears abundant blessings and joy, it can also have a much darker side that often feels too taboo to share with the world.
Singer Rachel Platten wants to be a part of breaking that stigma by sharing her personal struggles with postpartum anxiety, which is put under the umbrella of postpartum depression.
Cases of postpartum depression well exceed 3 million per year, and the CDC estimates that 1 in 8 pregnant women experience postpartum anxiety, which can manifest in changes in sleeping and eating and the inability to sit still.
The “Fight Song” singer elaborated on her experience with these mental health challenges in a recent Instagram post.
She started out by admitting that while she posted a bubbly, smiling picture of her and her daughter Violet on Mother’s Day, the storm she felt raging within reflected nothing of that ‘Insta-perfect’ shot.
“On Mother’s Day – I sobbed for hours the night before and the morning of. I know I didn’t show that side on social media, only an older laughing picture of me and Vi,” Platten wrote. “But truthfully all of those months on tour last summer when I was struggling with postpartum anxiety made me feel shame and guilt, like I didn’t deserve to be celebrated as a mom.”
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