Britney Spear's post-partum struggle

[sweetrebel]

We all know Britney was a little out there prior to her having kids, but I could see this being PPD. If we really think about it, the shit that she had done in the past wasn't that bad. Once her and KFed split, it seems she did lose her shit...
Crumpet, it's true that there are lots of people who are just flat out addicts, but I do believe that some self medicate and aren't aware of it...they just know that something inside hurts or isn't right and getting drunk/high makes it feel better.

[Karistiona]

Well if it's true then I feel really sorry for her, it's a really awful thing to have to go through apparently.

[ArmyWifey]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

PPD a year or 2 after her kid is born? wtf?

Actually that does seem like a long time but maybe not. After my daughter I thought I was just going through "baby blues". 9 months later, when I still was going through those adjustments, my husband said, "maybe something else is wrong". I was immediately precribed something and it took a long time until I felt normal again. Looking back, funny thing was that I KNEW I was a little "bluesy" but in reality, I was a mess.

[crumpet]

^^^^^^^^
I know. However, we could argue that the reason anyone gets addicted to drugs in the first place is due to repetetive use because of the desire to feel the altered state. I know people with ADHD, Bipolar, and Depression are very prone to etoh and drug use. So are 'child stars' who get too much too soon. We don't know exactly what is going on with her and most likely it is a combination of multiple things. I'm just scared if everybody keeps up the PPD train it won't be long before moms aren't allowed to take their babies home from the hospital until they've had all sorts of invasive psych screening done and PPD doesn't always manifest itself right away.

I swear to Christ, some people love to chide me about how I don't know what I'm missing by not having kids, but you'll have to prove it by me, damn!

[Mel1973]

I agree Crumpet - I HATE, HATE, HATE the word/phrase/implication of the term "self-medicating". Fucking addicts come up with this shit so that they don't have to admit what they've really done. I've done drugs and it wasn't for medicinal purposes, it was to get high. It's not that difficult to admit. We all seem to try to put a label on every person and everything they go through and everything they do - we can't do that. Some people fuck up and admit it, others look for labels (self-medicating, anger issues, thyroid problems, passive aggressive, yuppie, bi polar, adhd (way overused), - and so fucking many more) to excuse their behavior. Let's see, didn't Brooke Shields have PPD - didn't see her puss splashed across every mag in the country, did we? I wonder how many calls Brits made to her, trying to get her to come to promises to validate that it's ppd that she's "suffering" through! GACK!!!

[Novice]

If she has PPD, why wasn't this picked up in her visits with her kids to the health visitor? Or don't you guys do that?

Oh, shut up Novice, her nanny went instead of her coz she was too hungover/etc to go.....

Sorry - stupid question.

[Mel1973]

Normal mothers take their children for checkups. 'nuff said.

[Kathie_Moffett]

Well, I think the possibility of PPD was ALREADY in consideration with her health care people, because it's been widely stated that she is on Paxil, an antidepressant. So, someone prescribing to her already knows she suffers from depression.

Like many of you I think Britney has lots of different problems in play here. The dysfunctional showbiz childhood with no real experience of normal daily life, for one--she is SO like Judy Garland in this way and we know how she ended up. Both these women stated that they loved what they did, and had been doing it since they could walk; it's not a case of them being FORCED to perform, but rather, of nobody pulling them back and forcing them instead to experience periods of normal growing up (like Jodie Foster did for herself, quitting acting to get her high school pass and then going on to Yale. Jodie always was a brick of a girl, but I'm convinced she's as healthy as she is now because of what she did then.)

Even in that drunk/stoned video of her, Britney seems wistful about all she's missed and all the stuff she doesn't know about "real life".

Combine that with a no-holds-barred celebrity lifestyle, with, again, NO real limitations or sense of balance, and trouble starts. Add the fact that apparently substance abuse runs in her family, and you can see the genesis of her alcoholism and drug problems even more clearly.

Then throw in the fact that she quite probably has an underlying mood disorder--I'm shocked and intrigued to see people are actually openly mentioning the dreaded bipolar illness--and Britney's even more clearly a HUGE mess.

Postpartum disorder/psychosis would just be the icing on the cake for this girl. Not to mention a marriage doomed, most of all, by the economic inequity between Britney and her husband. In my experience that is most always a problem, and when the wife is the rich one? ugh, forget it. Even if the husband's not a golddigger, that just doesn't seem to be something men can cope with.

If you listen to what her ex and her old friends have been saying, it's obvious she's been "off" for at least five years, and steadily getting worse. Bipolar often onsets in the late teens to early 20's, btw.

I think they're just beginning to figure out what's wrong with Britney.

[Beeyotch]

Yeah, her real problem is PPD and being a complete idiot with shit-for-brain impulsive tendencies.

Nice spin from the Britney pr machine. I guess they're allowed to do their job now that she's in rehab and her daily moron moments aren't being photographed by the paps.

[greysfang]

Her real problem: Not enough education and too much damn money.