Woman recalls attacking husband during postpartum psychosis

Julie Lindbæk Hussain developed postpartum psychosis after a chaotic three-day birth and later attacked her husband, Zaki. DR reports that she now lives with the consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and a disability pension.

Four grown men were needed to restrain the 30-year-old on a rain-soaked road in August. Two police officers and two paramedics held her down while she screamed and struggled.

Julie was terrified and furious with her husband, believing he had lured her into a trap. As someone injected her thigh with a sedative, she thought: “Now I’m going to die. Now I’m losing my child.”

Julie and Zaki had been looking forward to becoming parents for the first time. Their daughter was born at Hvidovre Hospital as a wanted child, but Julie says the birth left her severely sleep-deprived and feeling unsafe.

“I didn’t get any sleep during my birth, which lasted three days. I felt unsafe throughout the process and felt I had to stay alert,” she says.

The midwife who delivered the baby noted that Julie should watch for a postpartum reaction. Julie has given DR access to medical records from the period, as well as audio recordings of calls to the out-of-hours medical service.

Despite her lack of sleep, Julie could not sleep after giving birth. When she eventually did, she had such a severe nightmare that she initially believed she was experiencing a near-death event.

“I came out crying to the nurse and didn’t know whether I was going to die,” she says.

The family was discharged the following day with a hospital note stating that Julie was “doing psychologically better after two nights of sleep”. According to Julie, however, there was no follow-up on what she had experienced.

Psychiatry professor Trine Munk-Olsen of the University of Southern Denmark says postpartum psychosis is very different from postpartum depression.

On the way home to the couple’s flat in Amager, Julie thought people in traffic, especially cyclists, were moving in slow motion. Zaki could not see this.

Over the next five days, Julie became increasingly psychotic and distressed. She began hearing “spirits” telling her that she could save her life by recreating the birth. She spent hours under the shower making childbirth movements and ate her meals in the bathroom.

“I got the idea that if I performed this ritual, I would achieve one hundred per cent happiness,” Julie says.

Zaki became increasingly worried and searched online for her symptoms. The term “postpartum psychosis” appeared on his screen.

“This isn’t normal,” he recalls thinking.

Julie contacted DR in connection with the ongoing debate in the United States over whether a mother who killed her three young children had been failed by the healthcare system while seeking psychiatric help before the killings.

Julie’s psychosis culminated in an assault on her husband. She did not harm her daughter or herself. She hopes her experience will prompt questions about whether Denmark’s healthcare system is equipped to intervene early in the approximately 60 cases of postpartum psychosis that occur after childbirth in the country each year.

In Julie’s case, she believes midwives and obstetricians could have intervened shortly after the birth.

Capital Region, which was presented with Julie’s extensive criticism, said it was sorry she had gone through the experience.

“We acknowledge that we could have met her needs better in connection with the birth. But we believe that the healthcare staff acted correctly and in accordance with professional standards in the crucial areas,” the region said.

Julie says the worst part is that she remembers everything.