'Astonished' Kate Forbes opens up on postnatal depression battle

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has spoken candidly about her experiences of postnatal depression, stressing she is “astonished” at the lack of understanding about the condition.

Ms Forbes gave birth to her daughter Naomi in August 2022 and has been open about her mental health struggles after becoming a new mother. She has now shared her experiences on the Speaking of Suicide podcast, run by Inverness-based mental health charity Mikeysline.

Ms Forbes, who was the first Scottish Cabinet secretary to take maternity leave, said the postnatal depression started when she came home from hospital with her baby daughter.

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

Ms Forbes added: “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.

“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.”

Postnatal depression affects one in ten women within a year of giving birth, and suicide is a leading cause of maternal death.

Ms Forbes told the Speaking of Suicide podcast she was “astonished” at how little people understand postnatal depression, and said there is not enough research into pregnancy and its impact on mental health.

The Deputy First Minister sought professional help after her husband Ali MacLennan read out a checklist of postnatal depression symptoms and spoke to her about how she was feeling.

She said: “I am still astonished by the lack of understanding of an issue that affects so many people. I’m genuinely astonished by how little resource and research there is into pregnancy and women’s health issues in and around pregnancy, considering the impact it has on thousands and thousands of women.

“It wasn’t that many years ago that it would have been dismissed as the baby blues. For some women, it comes and goes, it’s a day of emotional challenge. And for some women, it descends very rapidly into something extremely serious.

“I have to commend NHS Highland, the midwives and the doctors - they really couldn’t have done more and I think that is rare based on what other women have shared with me.”

Ms Forbes said she now loves being a mother, but at the beginning she could not understand how people could enjoy motherhood after having a traumatic birth.

On the podcast, she said: “I thought if I kept breathing, if I kept moving, kept positive and in control, it would be fine. But I didn’t count on a baby’s heart rate almost disappearing, I didn’t count on starting to lose blood, I didn’t count on the room filling with professionals and I didn’t count on interventions - you can start to see the experience of being out of control.”

The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP said midwives and other frontline workers could benefit from “top-up training” to help support new mothers with their mental health.

She said the Scottish Government needed to reform health services to help facilitate a cultural change in attitudes towards postnatal depression.

“We have been on a journey in terms of the funding invested and the recruitment required, but I also think there’s something there about making every issue also a little bit about mental health,” she said.

“A midwife is trained in delivering a baby, not necessarily trained in supporting the mental health of the mother. But she’s probably also best placed to support the mental health of the mother in the immediate aftermath of giving birth and looking for signs.”

Ms Forbes added: “This is a principle that’s applicable - if you’ve been through cancer diagnosis, who supports you with the mental health impact? If you’ve been through a bereavement, who is the first point of contact to support you on the mental health side?

“There is something there about top-up training for the frontline workers who will support you on the substance of the issue and then help you deal with the aftermath of the issue.”