Amongst many profoundly emotional episodes of #WithChude, this week’s conversation with multi-brand ambassador and award-winning actress, Dakore Egbuson-Akande on her struggle with postnatal depression, battle for her mental health and the road to recovery, was particularly striking.
Speaking on how her seemingly perfect life and recent transition to motherhood deteriorated into postpartum depression, Dakore said, “I had some slight complications after the birth of my daughter. I was in a sad state, and I just slipped into postnatal depression. I didn’t even realise it when it started happening.”
After a conversation with a trusted, older friend who helped her identify the source of her sudden and recurrent mood swings, Dakore visited her OB/GYN, who confirmed that she was indeed suffering from symptoms of postnatal depression.
“I started to realise that I wasn’t using my creativity, so it was dying inside. This was after four years of being away from work. I just had this consistent and persistent sadness – a lack of joy – almost like I would be struggling to reach the joy, then sometimes I would be very manic – like very happy, then very sad,” she revealed.
“After a while, I started going to therapy. My therapist asked me what I used to do before I had my baby, and I told her I was an actor. She said to me, ‘It’s probably because you’re not doing what you’re used to doing, you’ve been doing this since you were a kid, and now you’ve suddenly stopped'”.
Through the support of her therapist and a supportive friend, Dakore was able to identify that her depression emanated from the recent readjustments that had been happening in her life. With a slow but eventual return to acting and the entertainment industry at large, Dakore was able to pull through and regain control of her life and mental health.
#WithChude is a special series of targeted multimedia conversations and investigations focused on narratives that enable and strengthen the mind, heart, and spirit. New episodes of #WithChude show every Saturday at 9 pm on TVC Entertainment, with reruns every Sunday on Wazobia TV at 5 pm and Thursday on EbonyLife TV at 7:30 pm.
An extended play podcast is up on Spotify, iTunes, among other podcast platforms, every Wednesday at 10:00 am. Everyone can join the conversations.
