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Karen Sheffield-Abdullah

Karen Sheffield-Abdullah

Certified nurse-midwife and assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing specializing in perinatal mental health and health equity

Apr 9, 2026

13:40
Can you address the prevalence of shame around postpartum depression? Because we're supposed to be so happy we have a newborn, and when we're not feeling happy...
13:52
So I think that we've had more national conversations surrounding mental health in this country in recent years.
14:02
People like Serena Williams talking about her postpartum depression.
14:07
We have folks.
14:08
like Alison Felix, who's an Olympian track runner.
14:12
She talked about her postpartum depression.
14:15
We have individuals like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles who have talked about their anxiety.
17:39
If someone suspects that they themselves might have postpartum depression or that someone they care about does, what should they do?
16:30
So if somebody in our lives, how would we know if they're experiencing depression or anxiety during pregnancy if they are reluctant to share it because they're ashamed of it?
16:43
Yeah, that's a good question.
16:44
I mean, I think...
16:47
It's all about communication.
16:48
It's all about normalizing conversation.
16:51
So that's one of the things that I'm a big proponent of is normalizing the conversation surrounding mental health.
16:59
I think we're doing a better job of that.

7 MINS LATER

23:52
Is there a typical timeframe for pregnancy symptoms that, you know, it's a mood swing because of the hormones and then all of a sudden like, no, this is something different.

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