Postpartum psychosis is a rare but serious mental illness, and is very different from the melancholy emotions that many women feel immediately after giving birth. It can affect one in every 500 to 1,000 women who have a baby, and as Dockrill outlined, symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, behaving in a way that is out of character, mania and depression.

The cause of postpartum psychosis is not yet known, and around half of cases happen ‘out of the blue’ to women without any previous personal or family history of psychiatric illness, according to the NCT. However, women may be more at risk if they have a family history of mental health illness, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, a traumatic birth or pregnancy or have previously experienced postpartum psychosis.

The illness is treated as a medical emergency, and most women who suffer from it need to be admitted into a psychiatric unit in hospital.

As Dockrill notes, there is still a huge amount of stigma around maternal mental health – thanks largely to the popular image of new motherhood as a time of unmitigated joy. When everyone expects you to be revelling in the miracle of new life, it can make it even harder to admit that you’re struggling.

But some things are gradually changing for the better. Not only are women talking more about their experiences with illnesses such as postpartum psychosis and postnatal depression, but in April it was announced that the NHS will receive £23 million in funding to ensure that all pregnant women and new mothers are able to access specialist community mental health support by next spring.

In the meantime, it’s important that we keep the conversation about maternal mental health going. Read Laura Dockrill’s full blog post about postpartum psychosis here.

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Adele speaks out about the importance of discussing maternal mental health