You just moved to Canada, and a new home! However you are several thousand miles from where you were born; from where you mother, father, and siblings reside. Although Canada has 2 official languages, you speak neither language. You have 1.1 million neighbors, but you know not one of them. Did I forget to mention… you are pregnant, and now live in Manitoba… it may as well be the moon.
Next week you will give birth.
After many excruciating hours of labour, you are blessed with… the responsibility of another life to tend to, to cook, clean, nurture and love in a country where you feel lost. In your birth country, many family and friends would be there to help share your joy and offer any support you needed, emotionally and physically. You hoped your husband could take time off to help you with the first few months of raising your child so you would not be alone, but he won’t. He is afraid that he will lose his job. Not to mention, EI payments would not be sufficient to support new parents finding their way. So you continue on life’s merry way, but it hasn’t been merry in a long time, you feel the added pressure of child rearing and you begin to fall. Not physically, but psychologically into a pit. However, you really are not alone. This pit is called postpartum depression…
According to Statistic Canada (2006), between the years 2001 and 2006, 31,190 people immigrated to Manitoba and the experiences of moving to a new country will inevitability cause feeling of fear and anxiety. According to “Canadian Social Policy: Issues and Perspectives,” Canada requires immigrants and refugees to prosper; “immigration will become essential for this country’s healthy growth and even, perhaps, for its survival” (George, 2003, p. 146). In my opinion, immigrants and refugees suffer through a torrent of psychological and emotional shock, dealing and adapting to a new culture. Imagine during this confusion changing everything that is stable in your life during pregnancy and after child birth, when that in itself is a huge change to deal with.
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious condition in which women suffer depression at a time that most women typically considered it one of the best times in their life. This condition effectively renders you, as a care giver, to a state of carelessness. You realize and acknowledge your parental duties, but are void of feelings and any desire to complete even the simplest of tasks (CMHA, 2010). Clearly this is not ideal when dealing with the vulnerability of a new born. At least in Canada this condition is considered a “disease”. According to one immigrant mother, “I didn’t think like that ... that I had a problem. I didn’t think that this thing was a disease. I thought I was anxious because it was very hot in India and because I was in an enclosed house, with no light. This is what I thought was causing my anxiety. I didn’t think it was a disease, but here [in Canada] the doctors are saying it is a disease” (Morrow, Smith, Lai, & Jaswal, 2008, p. 602). With the acknowledgement of postpartum depression in Canada, at least resources, supports, and medications are available to women suffering from PPD.
“Many women also found the prospect of having to care for a baby without the help and advice of their mothers or other family members, to be daunting and even frightening. This was exacerbated by being in a new country where they were unfamiliar with the culture and practices” (Ahmed, Stewart, Teng, Wahoush, & Gagnon, 2008, p. 297-298). Compounding these challenges with hormonal changes and culture shock it is no wonder immigrant and refugee women have an increased risk of depression and postpartum depression when immigrating to a new country. For example, according to one Canadian study, it was “found that postpartum depression was five times more likely amongst immigrant women” (Morrow et al., 2008, p. 600). Additionally, “a recent study reported that newcomer women had a three-to five-fold increase in depressive symptoms” (Ahmed et al., 2008, p. 295).
However, I believe there are other issues that new immigrants face including housing issues, increased support needs, and employment barriers. Immigrants to Canada “have higher levels of education on average than Canadian-born citizens, yet the newcomers find it more difficult to find jobs” (George, 2003, p 160). Does this make sense? Sometimes the obvious is not clear until it is stated. These women are carrying the children of Canada’s next generation; the children that will grow to be doctors, politicians, police officers and every imaginable occupation in our country. The mental health effect on immigrants is clearly a subject that needs to be addressed especially considering the fact the immigrant women are in a group that is higher risk for developing depression during pregnancy and after the birth (Zelkowitz et al., 2004). It is our responsibility to provide support and resources to our new neighbours and friends.
-Darcie B.
Reference List:
Ahmed, A., Stewart, D. E., Teng, L., Wahoush, O., & Gagnon, A. J. (2008). Experiences of immigrant new mothers with symptoms of depression. Arch Womens Ment Health, 11, p. 295-303.
Canadian Mental Health Association. (2010). Post partum depression. Retrieved from:http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=3-86-87-88
George, U. (2003). Immigration and refugee policy in Canada: Past, present, and future. In A.Westhues (Ed.), Canadian social policy: Issues and perspectives (pp. 145-163). Waterloo,ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Morrow, M., Smith, J. S., Lai, Y., & Jaswal, S. (2008). Shifting landscapes: Immigrant womenand postpartum depression. Health Care for Women International, 29, p. 593-617.
Statistic Canada. (2006). Population by immigrant status and period of immigration, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories - 20% sample data. Retrieved from: http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-557/T403-eng.cfm?Lang=E&T=403&GH=4&SC=1&S=99&O=A
Zelkowitz, P., Schinazi, J., Katofsky, L., Saucier, J. F., Valenzuela, M., Westreich, R., & Dayan, J. (2004). Factors associated with depression in pregnant immigrant women. Transcultural Psychiatry, 41, p. 445-464.
I really enjoy your writing and the way you put the reader in the place of an immigrant woman with a newborn. It is a very eloquent post and provided a sound description of postpartum depression. The first few years after birth are essential to cognitive development. When mothers are depressed they may not be able to create a stimulating environment for their baby which is detrimental to their development. I fully agree with the points made in your blog post and how it is in a society’s best interest to provide all the help possible to aid those who suffer from postpartum depression so that it can have productive citizens.
ReplyDeleteJessica N.
Good approach to eliciting empathy in the reader of your blog post. I've never really gave thought to how difficult it would be to give birth in a foreign country, and on top of that suffering from PPD. You raise a good point that there needs to be supports available to women who feel isolated for the health of both them and their new child. I think this could be best implemented by having such support available in the hospital and provided immediately after.
ReplyDeleteTara
Very interesting blog! I can understand how difficult it would be to move to another country, because when I had to move to another province I felt alone and that is not even comparable to what immigrants would have to go through. I can only imagine how lonely and isolated immigrants would feel in a totally different country and different culture. I really like the point you made how it is even more difficult when the person is pregnant because they don’t have the family support that they would have in their other country. I think many people don’t realize how difficult it is for immigrants to adapt to our new country therefore, we need to educate ourselves and offer more resources that would make the process of moving less stressful.
ReplyDeleteMelanie.F
Your blog reminds me of a close family friend. She came to Canada from India in her twenties with her new husband and was in that exact same situation. This was before she met my mother and established a social network here in Winnipeg. The only person she had to talk to throughout her pregnancy was an older adult woman living in theapartment next door. Later on in life she became a performing artist and it was through one of her plays that she described her isolating and terrifying experience of being here in Winnipeg, pregnant and alone. She described how she longed to be back in India where she would have been surrounded by family and friends and there guidance. While she did not mention having PPD your blog is very similar to her experience.
ReplyDeleteRachel Ryan-Dorn
I like how you painted the picture of what life may be like for someone new to the country. I couldn't imagine being pregnant, in a new country and without the support of family and friends. I makes you think about what people experience when they go through culture shock and sometimes depression. I was told by a friend that they knew someone who was so cold after coming to Canada they would cry, and felt absolutely miserable. Something we are all used to here takes a lot of adjustment for someone who has just arrived. Great post! you raised some important issues.
ReplyDeleteJennilee
I really enjoyed reading this blog! It kept me very interested and helped me to understand more about how immigrants have mental health issues. I agree completely when you had said "immigrants and refugees suffer through a torrent of psychological and emotional shock, dealing and adapting to a new culture." There are so many new things that they are learning and adjusting to that it only makes sense for them to have minor mental health issues and for their emotions and thoughts to be scattered.
ReplyDelete- Brettany G.
I really enjoyed reading your post. It really is true how immigrants suffer through some pretty tricky stuff while living here in Canada alone. I have been on some short term missions and even when I travel I can feel such a culture shock. I can imagine what a person moving to Canada to live here might feel. It is so hard. We often forget to think about the language barrier new immigrants feel and in another sense we often don't think about how they are dealing with our currency. These small things may seem small to us but they are huge issues for immigrants. These "small" things may be part of the reason why some immigrants go through some mentally challenging issues. -Brittany L
ReplyDeleteI didnt realize that pregnant immigrant women are in higher risk of getting PPD until you point it out. I mean child birth should be one of the happiest moment for a woman's life, but in your case all she experienced were loneliness and isolation. I hope the state would have more support for them as regardless of race, cultural background and language. Every newborn baby in Canada are the most important part for Canada's Future
ReplyDeleteSarah Poon
Great post!! I had no idea that immigrant women are at risk for PPD. It makes sense though, coming to a new country causes enough worries let alone giving birth and now having a child to raise. Lots of new mother rely on other member in their families to help look after the child and an immigrant would not have that luxury. Considering that information I think a pregnancy when your an immigrant is the scariest thing that could happen. Is there anywhere that immigrant women can go for extra help? Or do they need to get help from the same place that women from the country get help?
ReplyDelete- Samantha G
Hiya Darcie-
ReplyDeleteThere I finally read your new post! Interesting I had not really thought about that much, though I did kind of wonder when I would see all the new Mother's downtown who lived in predominantly immigrant housing, how that worked. My girlfriends Mother did tell me about having her brother only 2.5 years after coming here from Ghana. Her husband was off in the U.S. at school and I was so shocked to hear that he left her all alone without any family while pregnant, then went back to school 3 days after his son was born. I asked her "whoa- you were alone while pregnant?, that sounds hard." She paused and seemed touched anyone cared and told me it was very hard. Yes I guess that would be a big hurdle for immigrants to get through, and if EI didn't cover them- thats just wrong somehow.
D.Hayward