Kate Forbes ‘astonished’ at poor support for post natal depression

Postnatal depression affects one in 10 women within a year of giving birth, according to the NHS, and suicide is a leading cause of maternal death, external during the year after birth.

Ms Forbes shared more details about her struggle with the crippling condition, and the feeling that her baby would be better off without her.

“I got home and that’s when the sort of night terrors and the day terrors started,” she said.

“I was overwhelmed by fear for the baby’s health – I assumed I would be the person that would cause her pain and suffering and therefore it would have been better for me to be elsewhere.”

She said she was convinced someone was going to cause them harm.

“I’d go to have a shower but I’d have to have a 30-second shower because I was convinced someone was going to enter the bathroom with a machete or something – it’s absurd – but there are no facts that can counteract what you believe so strongly,” she said.

“As a politician, I suppose I’m a professional at putting a smile on and giving the right answer irrespective of how you feel inside. I did that for a while and I just continued to not sleep at all.

“Within a week, I couldn’t even speak without tears and it all came out.”

When husband Ali MacLennan read out a checklist of postnatal depression symptoms, and then her midwife intervened, Ms Forbes realised what was going on.