Postpartum Depression (PPD) - A Serious Case of Illness

Introduction

What is postpartum depression (PPD)? Postpartum depression or also known as (in plain mama English) is a type of disease that a women can get when she gives birth to a child within the last 12 months. Around 1 out of 7 new mothers around the world will get this disease. How do you know if you have this disease? If your feelings of despair and sadness are too great to absorb or you could not even accomplish simple daily tasks then you know you have PPD.

There are some risk factors that may lead to PPD which are history of depression, previous miscarriage, prenatal depression, smoking, low levels of oxytocin etc. The symptoms are the feeling of extreme sadness or hopelessness. Keep on crying without any particular reason and have no interest in any activities. The feeling of suicide and life has no meaning or life isn’t worth living. Has loss of appetite on eating or over eating. Other signs may be worrying too much about your baby. Easily irritated or hot tempered.

Postpartum Depression (PPD) Cases

Postpartum Depression can cause a lot of damage to one family if it doesn’t cure or seek treatment. There is a lot of case that involve PPD in the world even famous artist also got this illness such as Adele. I have found three cases that involve PPD, one in Malaysia and another two in overseas.

Malaysia Case

There is a case where an army Corporal’s wife slashed their 40-days-old child to death. She claimed that she heard some whispers and voices telling her to kill her child. The minister comments on it say that this is an extreme case of Postpartum Depression that rarely happen to mother in the country. She seem to have Auditory Hallucination where a person hears a non-existing ‘voice’ talking with itself, or two ‘voices’ speaking with one another, or a ‘voice’ giving orders to the victim.

Overseas Case

A woman accused of drowning her twin babies pleaded guilty because the judge called it a case of postpartum depression. She was arrested after her mother-in-law found her in a bathroom with the twins, who were wet, fully clothed and crying. The twins, a boy and a girl, were 4 months old at the time. Both her and her husband has started to join some counselling group to heal this illness.

Overseas Case 2

A seven-month old baby was murder which happened in Podolsk Moscow region and the reason for the killing was because of postpartum depression. The baby had an injury to the brain, closed craniocerebral injury, brain contusion severe fracture of the right parietal and occipital bones, multiple subcutaneous haemorrhage, head and face. Doctors in Podolsk city hospital fought for the baby’s life but in the end the child dead.

Conclusion

If you think you have postpartum depression, you might seek help from psychotherapy and antidepressants. Don’t feel too bad if you have PPD because you are not alone and it can be treated so act now before anything unwanted happens.

References

1. http://malaysiandigest.com/news/657265-she-claimed-to-have-heard-whispers-and-voices-telling-her-to-kill-her-40-days-old-child.html

2. http://abcnews.go.com/US/Depression/story?id=92935&page=1

3. https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/34656471/lawyers-for-murder-accused-call-for-lesser-charge-blaming-postnatal-depression/#page1

(Quah Kah Sheung, Sim Chiew Ee, Low Jia Wei, Ooi Shu Qi)

Laos - A Communist Country?

Introduction

There is a lot of country in this world and there are a lot that have achieved democratic but little did we know there are few countries still in the communist state or dictatorship. The country is Laos, North Korea, China, Cuba and Vietnam. This is a country where there is only one party during election and they assume the whole politics and constitution. We will elaborate more of it below and the country we choose is Laos.

Political System

Laos is one of the last bastions of communism along with Cuba, North Korea, China and Vietnam. The country takes place as in the framework of a one-party socialist republic and the only party that govern the country is call Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP). The head of the state is the general secretary of LPRP which make him the de facto of Laos. The Laos politics is characterised by strongman and full of secret because nobody outside the inner circle know what is really going on. In Laos, the citizen don’t get to choose their government because there is no other alternative, no opposition party, no civil society and so they are force to deal with it like what happen to North Korea where there is only one person who have absolute power. Laos is a country where there is unusually harsh government control around and the executive power is controlled by the president and prime minister is in charge of ministry council. The country most recent election is on 2011 and since there are only one party so all the candidates is from the same party and no other people. In summary, Laos is a dictator country.

Economy

The Laotian economy has been growing at an average annual rate around 7 percent since the past five years. Laos continues to integrate more fully into the system of global trade and investment. The trade regime has become more transparent, and there has been progress in improving the management of public finances. Substantial challenges remain, particularly in implementing deeper institutional and systemic reforms that are critical to advancing economic freedom. Weak property rights, pervasive corruption, and burdensome bureaucracy, exacerbated by lingering government interference and regulatory controls, continue to reduce the dynamism of investment flows and overall economic efficiency.

Tourism

Tham Kong Lo

Tham Kong Lo also known as Kong Lo cave which located at Phu Hin Bun River. This cave is a really amazing cave that I’ve never seen, it is a limestone cave in Phu Hin Bun national park. The limestone makes the cave shine brightly in the dark place with the pretty awesome colour. Visitor may have a great adventure with ride a boat through the cave.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is a wonderful place with beautiful sea view and mountain. It previously known as Moung Song when Laos was under French colony. This beautiful place is a popular place for backpacker who enjoyed kayaking, hiking, tubing and so on. I love this place so much its looks so relaxing and is a place that unpolluted and full with fresh air.

Si Phan Don

Si Phan Don is a beautiful island, set against a scenic section of the Mekong river in southern Laos. Here is a best place for kayaks, the river traffic fall rapidly looks dangerous but it also is a great place for the people who likes to have a stimulate adventure.

References

1. http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Laos/sub5_3d/entry-2972.html

2. http://www.heritage.org/index/country/laos

3. http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-laos/

(Quah Kah Sheung, Sim Chiew Ee, Low Jia Wei, Ooi Shu Qi)

Irresponsible

Introduction

Should parents be blame for their children’s action? My answer is YES. I believe that if a child is not taught up right, then the parents might face a few issues in the future which are disciplinary issue, bad attitude etc. So by paying attention to your child when young is a very critical issue. Parents have to lead their children to the correct path and correct their mistakes. Fail to do these few basic steps? There will be consequences. These are the 3 examples of irresponsible parenting consequences that occurred in the real world.

Cyber Cafe

An 18 years old boy collapsed and dead at an internet café after playing an online computer game for 40 hours straight. The teenager from Taiwan, Identified only by his surname Chang, had reportedly gone without food for almost 2 days. He booked a private room at that cyber café and began playing a popular game, Diablo 3. This incident happened because their parents totally did not care whether if their child came home or not. Maybe their parents were too busy earning money and have forgotten that they have a son. He could even pay for a private room which logically is quite pricy so this proves that his parents just gave him money to entertain himself without disturbing them.

Gorilla Incident (Harambe)

I’m going to talk about an incident that occur last year that cause people won’t forget about it and still talking about it. A boy that visits the Cincinnati zoo in Ohio, United States of America fall down into a gorilla enclosure. The boy survived with serious but not life threatening injuries but in return of it, the gorilla was shot dead. What I want to say is, this is parents fault or also known as parent’s negligence because the parents of this boy did not raise him properly which make him doesn’t realise how dangerous an animal can be. The reason that this incident occurred is because the parents was also watching over several other children and do not have enough hands to watch this boy closely which leads to the boy falling down to the enclosure. After this incident, the lesson that taught us is, if you are unable to take care of so many children then stop giving birth to so many because it would just further burden ourselves.

Drowned

Their mother was in the shallow end of the pool with a 3-year-old child and didn’t notice the older children go underwater, police said. Unable to swim, she began screaming for help. The 10-year-old girl drowned and her 9- and 11-year-old brothers were in intensive care after they were pulled from a murky swimming pool at an Irving apartment complex Wednesday, police said. The mother is to blame for this incident because she should not have let her children swim in a deep pools when there is no lifeguard or guardian that can swim and watch over them. Even if her children were able to swim on their own, there is still a possibility that an accident may occur. So it is always safer to swim in swallow water which your feet could reach the floor and your head is above the water.

Conclusion

If a couple chooses to expand their family then they have to commit and be responsible. Having a child is not a toy that you can throw a side when you get bored of it. It is the responsibility of a parent to ensure their child does the right thing and makes the correct decisions. So it is no use to cry or regret when your child is already injured or dead because what’s done is already done.

References

1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3615099/Outrage-directed-parents-Harambe-gorilla-s-senseless-death-four-year-old-son-fell-enclosure-led-zoo-officials-fatally-shoot-animal.html

2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175410/Teenager-dies-playing-game-40-HOURS-straight-eating.html

3. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/irving/2015/06/24/10-year-old-girl-drowns-in-irving-apartment-pool-2-brothers-in-icu

(Quah Kah Sheung, Sim Chiew Ee, Low Jia Wei, Ooi Shu Qi)