Alanis Morissette revealed this week that she is once again battling postpartum depression.
The 45-year-old Canadian singer welcomed her third child, son Winter Mercy, on Aug. 8.
In a blog post, Morrissette said she wasn’t sure if she would go through the same depression and anxiety she did after having son Ever Imre, now 8, and daughter Onyx Solace, now 3.
“There are so many tentacles to this experience,” she wrote.
Morrissette explained: “Recovery from childbirth (as beautiful and intense as mine was at home, dream birth.), integrating new angel baby with older angel babies. marriage. all kinds of PTSD triggers. overstimulation. this body. attempting to crawl back to some semi-recognizable configuration.some around my relationship with needing. reaching out.”
She said she finds herself “over-giving. over-serving. over-do-ing. over-over-ing” – which she described as “beautiful human qualities that are on 11 in a way that the body ultimately can’t sustain.”
Morrissette said her previous experience with postpartum depression means she has the resources she needs.
“Even as i drag my ass through the molasses. there is so much more support this time,” she wrote. "I knew better so i set it up to win as much as i could beforehand. support. food. friends. sun. bio-identical hormones and SSRI’s at the ready. some parts of the care-prep has been a godsend, and well-planned.
“But for all of this preparation—PPD is still a sneaky monkey with a machete—working its way through my psyche and body and days and thoughts and bloodwork levels.”
She added: “Wouldn’t it be cool if we treated all post partum moms and families with this awareness and honour. even if the treadmill of the quickening of our culture didn’t change pace….that there might be a life raft of empathy toward the feminine life-givers who bear it all and give more than words can even begin to touch on.”