Avoiding conception?

[trayletha]

Is severe PPD a just reason for using NFP?

 

[1ke]

You should follow your mental health professional’s guidance on this matter. If post partum depression is severe, then certainly it is prudent to seek treatment and postpone additional preganancy until treated and recovered. And, NFP is a moral means of doing so.

 

[trayletha]

Thank you, but I don’t think I was very clear - the advice is to avoid FOREVER?!? I (and my family) suffered through PPD twice, this last time I required hospitalization.

 

[Orchanian]

I’m quoting Beginning Apologetics published by San Juan Catholic Seminars. It states that if spouses have legitimate reasons to limit the number of children, they are permitted to use NFP. Limiting family size is not evil in itself; it can be done for legitimate reasons. It only becomes evil if our intentions or methods are evil. It’s probably worthwhile to ask you parish priest or one of the staff apologists to be certain.

You might find it helpful to read the book, Why I Jumped by Tina Zahn. It’s her story of postpartum depression and healing.

 

[Hyacinth_II]

Thank you, but I don’t think I was very clear - the advice is to avoid FOREVER?!? I (and my family) suffered through PPD twice, this last time I required hospitalization.

You wanted to know if severe PPD a just reason for using NFP?

I am not sure what is going on in your life, but it is not something in which an easy answer will be found.

I sense grief in your background. Grief can also lead to depression…I know because I have been there…done that.

It is a time for introspection…a time to look into yourself…a time for prayer. This is a process…and it may be painful before your grieving subsides. You may need to relieve yourself with the sacrament of reconciliation…I don’t know what is on your mind. God is with you, He is waiting for you to ask for His help.

Yes, it is a valid time to practice NFP and try your best to get closer to God, for He will help you find the answers and provide you with the peace that you need to relieve your depression. Do not stop any medication or intervention that your doctor is giving you…continue with that…but add God too.

In the event, this site can help you (maybe from your long past, I don’t know), I will give it to you. Perhaps you had a loss in your life. Perhaps you lost a child… I don’t know. These things affect us.

abortionchangesyou.com/

Or perhaps it is merely chemical…

Ask Him for help and guidance in your life. Ask for healing.

Will this be FOREVER? God will help you with this. He can heal you. ASK.

God bless you.

 

[1ke]

Thank you, but I don’t think I was very clear - the advice is to avoid FOREVER?!? I (and my family) suffered through PPD twice, this last time I required hospitalization.

You can certainly avoid indefinitely. Indefinitely, in your case, may mean forever. From the encyclical Humanae Vitae:

With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who,** for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts**, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.

 

[Bluegoat]

Sure, it could be.

I might suggest, though, taking it one day at a time. Don’t say forever - though that may be how it turns out. But I think if you take things as they come, and are making appropriate decisions for right now, you won’t go wrong. Don’t worry about five years from now - you will be in a better position to make that decision then.