I Suffered From Post-Adoption Depression

I Suffered From Post-Adoption Depression

For many parents, adoption day is a day of unbridled joy, the culmination of a long journey and the beginning of a new family. But sometimes, reaching the end of the adoption process can be the start of other challenges. For Elise Schreier, an adoptive mother in Newington, Conn., finalizing her adoption led to depression.

"Life just settled down to normal, and you'd think, you know, that would be a pretty nice time. But I just found myself feeling like a lot of the common symptoms. I was distracted, irritable, I was sad," she explained to host Nancy Redd in a segment about post-adoption depression on HuffPost Live. "And it just felt so strange because this was supposed to be the happiest time. This is what we had been working for for so long -- but I just wasn't feeling like myself at all."

Schreier added that she felt very alone during that time, because there was very little information on post-adoptive depression.

"You don't hear this story often. Everyone describes adoption day as the happiest day of their life, you know, 'finally all the pieces came together.' They love their children dearly, which of course I did. But I just didn't hear my story in anything else anyone was sharing."

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