How Long Does Postpartum Depression Last?

Most postpartum depression diagnoses happen during the six-week postpartum checkup. But if postpartum depression symptoms become noticeable a bit later, there can be a delay in diagnosis. “That six-week visit is [an important] touchpoint with your ob-gyn,” says Jenny Yang Mei, MD, an obstetrics and gynecology maternal fetal medicine physician at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health in Palo Alto, California. If the condition is not diagnosed then, it can prolong postpartum depression, says Dr. Mei.

Another reason postpartum depression is often overlooked is because it doesn’t always show up as sadness, says Meleen Chuang, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist at NYU Langone Health in Brooklyn, New York. “Some women seem completely functional on the outside while silently struggling with anxiety or guilt. Many also hide their symptoms, because they feel ashamed or afraid of being judged.”

Postpartum depression can last anywhere from a few months to over a year or longer, especially if it goes untreated. With treatment, symptoms can become more manageable, but the timeline is different for each mom. “It’s hard to say how long it will take to start feeling better. Some women can feel better within a week or two of starting treatments. For others, it can take a month or two to find the right treatment,” says Natalie Feldman, MD, an attending psychiatrist at Mass General Brigham in Boston who specializes in postpartum depression and anxiety.

That said, some women may see an improvement in symptoms much earlier. “Sometimes just knowing you have a medical explanation for what you are feeling helps people to rally their resources and start to feel better — even before treatment begins,” she says. Dr. Feldman also notes that the person with depression is often the last person to realize they’re starting to feel better. “If people around you say that it seems like you’re getting better, they may be right.”

Just starting treatment can be healing. “Therapy can help women process what they’re feeling and reduce guilt and anxiety. Medication can also help regulate mood and emotional functioning, and many options are considered safe during breastfeeding,” says Dr. Chuang.

Lifestyle measures, such as eating healthy, trying to find moments of quiet time to de-stress with meditation or yoga, and getting good sleep, can also play an important role in how long postpartum depression lasts.

Other factors that increase the risk of a major depressive episode or influence the duration of postpartum depression include the following, says Lulu Zhao, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist and women’s behavioral health specialist at Cleveland Clinic:

• History of depression or other mental or physical health issues
• Life stressors, such as financial instability
• Lack of a support system
• Inability to seek therapy because of access or work schedule
• Birth trauma
• NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) stays

In more severe cases, depression can start as postpartum depression but persist beyond the postpartum period. In this case, your doctor may change the medication you take for postpartum depression to a more general treatment for depression. “Even if it’s been a long time, there are still treatments that can help, and it’s worth reaching out,” says Feldman.

After a postpartum depression diagnosis, some mothers may feel reluctant about following a treatment plan. According to Dr. Zhao, the reality is that there’s still a lot of stigma attached to mental health treatment that can prevent women from pursuing the tools that can help them feel better. But delaying treatment can affect the recovery timeline.

While not every woman with postpartum depression will require medication, Zhao does not recommend just waiting for your brain to fix itself. Treatment can have a big impact on speeding up recovery. Conversely, “The longer the depression goes on, the more treatment resistant it becomes,” she says. “Six months is usually the threshold where you start to see increased treatment resistance, because the brain is now used to thinking in a depressed way. ... Waiting it out is not a good strategy, because that is valuable time being wasted with your child.”

Even with treatment, it may feel like postpartum depression is never going to improve, but that perspective in itself is a symptom of postpartum depression, says Feldman. Two important things to remember, she says: It is not your fault that you have postpartum depression, and it’s going to get better. “If you have the diagnosis, you have done the hardest thing: You have said, ‘I am not OK, and I need help,’” says Feldman. “That’s one of the most powerful things you can do.”