Will I ever get better from postpartum depression? Will I ever get back to the old me, the one who wasn’t like this? Will I ever recover from postpartum anxiety? Or postpartum OCD? Will my pregnancy depression ever go away entirely? My psychosis? Am I permanently “crazy”? Is it even possible that I’ll fully recover and go back to “normal”?

I think almost every mom I’ve ever talked to over these last ten years, no matter which maternal mental illness she has, has been convinced she’d never recover. She’ll be the special case that doesn’t respond to any treatment for postpartum depression or related illnesses. She’ll be the one who improves but never, ever really gets back to her old self. You’re all convinced that there’s no way this will ever go away. That you are permanently scarred or ruined in some way and will forever suffer. And I always tell you, you’ll see. One day I’ll get to say, “I told you so.” You will get back to the you that you’ve always been. You will get back in the world again. 

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are real illnesses. They don’t just go away on their own, especially if you have moderate to severe symptoms. They require professional help. But there IS help. It’s not like we’re still searching for the cure. There are people who know exactly how to help you. And with that help you will get better. You will get back to you.

In honor of our worldwide event Climb Out of the Darkness this month, Postpartum Progress put together a special video just for you, featuring the music of British singer-songwriter and Grammy-nominated artist David Gray. I want you to look very carefully at the faces in this video, because every single one of these Warrior Moms was once in the same awful, dark place and each believed fully that she’d never get better.  But she did. They did. They’re back. And you will be too. Meantime, know you are not alone. The Warrior Moms of Postpartum Progress are with you.  

If you’d like to join Climb Out of the Darkness, please do. We’d love to have you. Find your local climb here. And no, you don’t have to be fully back or even partway recovered to Climb. We’d love to have you with us no matter where you are on this journey.

I have to extend a very special thanks to David Gray for allowing Postpartum Progress to use this amazing song as the official song of the 2nd annual Climb Out of the Darkness. His new album, Mutineers, is dropping June 17th, and “Back in the World” is the first single released from that album. This song helps symbolize that you can get back in the world and back to yourself again, even if you struggle from postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, postpartum psychosis, pregnancy depression, and more.  Gray has also just announced a North American summer tour. Tickets went on sale Friday, June 6th, for the 23-city outing kicking off on August 1st and heading to places like Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Las Vegas and San Diego. Get tickets here! Here’s the official video of the song if you’d like to check it out as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBS6UgiYTr4.

I’d also like to send all my gratitude to my amazing friend Barbara Jones of One 2 One Network who made this video happen, and Nick Romero of Moded Films for editing the video.