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International Women’s Day Interview: Actress Shweta Kawatra, best known as Pallavi from the popular drama ‘Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki’, struggled with postpartum depression for many years and experienced symptoms like anxiety, brain fog, irritability, panic attacks and social anxiety. It took her a year to understand what she was going through and almost five years to fully overcome her mental health condition. The actress credits her recovery to her Buddhist practice – where she chanted and meditated. Talking about her symptoms and connecting with others to help her deal with the challenges also helped Kawatra deal with her condition. “I tried alternative medicine through acupuncture and Ayurvedic diet, which helped overcome my symptoms. I made lifestyle changes, which helped me recover,” Kawatra said in an interview with HT Digital. ” (Also Read | International Women’s Day 2024: 6 tips for working women to overcome workplace anxiety)
After recovering, Kawatra continues to spread awareness about postpartum depression and one of the initiatives she is involved with is her own community on the mobile app Koto called ‘My Mental Wellness Journey’.
On the occasion of Women’s Day, Shweta Kawatra reveals how she overcame postpartum depression and also shares tips for new mothers to deal with this mental health problem.
How has dealing with postpartum depression been for you and when did you become aware of the issue?
This was hard! There was no education given on life/hormones/challenges after delivery, so it felt like something hit me hard and pulled me out of a dream on the day of delivery. After this there were the worries of becoming a new mother. I used to cry a lot most days, I don’t know why but I felt helpless. I blamed myself for not knowing what motherhood meant.
Gradually, the anxiety turned into brain fog, difficulty processing my thoughts, difficulty expressing myself, and helplessness, which turned into irritability, anger, panic attacks, and social anxiety. The helplessness of not understanding what is happening to me gives rise to suicidal thoughts. I have always been a warrior and it was confusing to me why I felt defeated.
My weight had increased by about 30 kg during pregnancy and I did not know how to take my life in a positive direction. I lost all confidence. It took me a year to recognize it might be depression and five years to completely heal myself.
What strategy did you adopt to overcome this?
I have been practicing Buddhism for 20 years. This is something I continue to do no matter what. Our practice also includes taking care of the sufferings of others and helping them overcome their problems. Whenever I was overwhelmed, I would chant and visit others and help them overcome their struggles and become happy. It made me realize that my struggles are comparatively small, and that I should continue to find solutions for myself without giving up or resorting to cowardly actions. As a result, I tried alternative medicine through acupuncture and Ayurvedic diet, which helped overcome my symptoms. There were changes in my lifestyle, which helped me in recovery.
During this time, I also challenged myself to work in the show Baal Veer, so that I could stretch myself to get back my lost confidence. Most importantly, talking about this fact helped me and gave me more strength. It helped me connect with so many other women who were going through the same thing, and I was able to empathize with them a lot.
What are your tips for new moms who are struggling with postpartum depression?
1. It is natural to have negative thoughts after delivery. Seek help from your gynecologist and ask him if hormonal tests exist. Don’t let your doctors think it’s a small thing. They should be able to counsel you and give you hope – if not, seek a second or third opinion. Ideally, if you are not feeling better in 3-4 months and if all hormonal tests are normal then a compassionate gynecologist should be able to provide the right guidance. If all else fails, look for a more holistic doctor.
2. Seek support in offline and online communities, read/listen to stories from other moms, new moms, older moms – it’s important to get perspective. In my community, I not only share my own experiences of postpartum depression but also learn from the experiences of all the other women who join me there.
3. It is important to take support from the family also. I used to share my feelings with my husband Manav, but we did not realize that what I was going through could be depression. I also opened up to some of my close friends about how I was feeling and I got a lot of support from them too. So, my advice would be to find your support in your partner, family and people around you.
4. Give yourself some margin for error. As new moms, we often feel pressure to make sure we do everything perfectly, but give yourself time and space to make mistakes and learn from them. After all, being a parent is hard.
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