Brighton mother sectioned after post-birth psychosis

A mother was sectioned after giving birth via emergency C-section when post-birth psychosis left her convinced medics were trying to steal her newborn son.

Scarlet Hatterson, 31, stayed awake for 10 days straight after having her son Bear six weeks before her due date, and sleep deprivation and morphine led to her suffering vivid hallucinations, psychotic episodes and paranoia. 

The mother of three, from Kemptown in Brighton, was discharged eight days after giving birth, but her terrified husband Peter eventually called an ambulance when he found his wife screaming out of her bedroom window, convinced she could see the devil. 

Scarlet Hatterson, from Brighton, suffered post-birth psychosis after giving birth to her son Bear by emergency C-section

The mother-of-three was convinced her room at the hospital was bugged and that medics were trying to steal her newborn

Scarlet, who believed her room on the hospital ward was bugged and that staff were conspiring against her, was allowed to go home just over a week after giving birth, but her mental condition continued to deteriorate.   

Scarlet found herself analysing TV adverts, texting in code, speaking in riddles and cleaning obsessively. 

She began reciting passages from Dr Seuss and Alice in Wonderland and repeating phrases like, ‘We’re all mad here’ and ‘I’ve gone completely bonkers’, and says the song ‘Just Like a Pill’ by Pink – which refers to pills and morphine – was playing on repeat in her head.

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At one point the full-time mum even believed her heart was failing and thought she was going to die. 

Her husband Peter, 45, a chef, was left with no choice but to get help as her mental state continued to deteriorate, and she was eventually admitted to a mother and baby unit and sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Scarlet said: ‘The point that he called the ambulance was when I opened up my bedroom window, leaned out and screamed at the top of my voice.

‘After that, I looked in the mirror and I didn’t see myself, I saw the devil.

‘I saw a really scary man with a thick black beard and a gaunt face. I still remember it like it was yesterday.

POST-BIRTH PSYCHOSIS: ‘IT’S LIKE A DREAM… BUT YOU’RE NOT ASLEEP’ 

Postpartum psychosis affects one to two in every 1,000 new mums.

Consultant perinatal psychiatrist Dr Alain Gregoire, who treated Scarlet at Melbury Lodge, Winchester, describes it as being ‘like a dream but you’re not asleep’. 

‘In dreams, weird stuff goes on and when you wake up you think, “How did my brain create that?”‘ he said. 

‘People get very strange thoughts that they completely believe and they sometimes will have strange experiences, like hearing things or seeing things.

‘It’s a very, very surreal, weird experience, but when you’re living through it it feels like reality.’

He said that postpartum psychosis is the most serious and rapidly progressing of all mental health conditions, but added that it is 100 per cent treatable.

It is not known what causes the condition, but fluctuating hormones and sleep patterns may play a role. 

People who have suffered bipolar disorder are at a higher risk of experiencing it, but in many cases it happens out of the blue.

If untreated, it can go on for months or years and women can become suicidal. 

‘I thought I was physically dying, that my heart was stopping. I had no idea it was in my mind.

‘It was like I was on acid or something.’

She describes being unable to sleep, obsessed with eating, and convinced that everything she saw and heard on the TV or radio was directed at her. 

‘I wasn’t sleeping at all and I went ten days without sleep, but I didn’t feel tired,’ says Scarlet.

‘I was running on nothing but felt constantly hungry and was eating like a horse – chocolate, crisps, anything and everything I could get my hands on.

‘Everything I saw on the TV and heard on the radio, every advert, I thought it was sending a direct message to me personally.

‘When I was younger, I was obsessed with reading Dr Seuss and Alice in Wonderland.

‘I didn’t know I remembered the words and I couldn’t recite them now but at the time I was reeling off random passages.’

Scarlet has now bravely opened up about her experience of postpartum psychosis in a bid to raise awareness about the condition, which affects one to two in 1,000 new mums. 

Scarlet was admitted to the Mother and Baby Unit at Melbury Lodge, Winchester on October 12, ten days after Bear was born on October 2.

That night she had her first night’s sleep in ten days thanks to sleeping pills.

She stayed there for just over a month having cognitive behavioural therapy while on anti-psychotic medication and eventually, she says, ‘the fog began to clear’.

Scarlet, who wasn’t sleeping and was speaking in riddles after giving birth, says she believed her heart was failing and thought she was going to die

Full-time mum Scarlet remains on medication for depression and anxiety, but says she feels more in control 

Since returning home in November 2015, she remains on the anti-psychotics and medication for depression and anxiety but feels more in control.

She believes her psychosis could be linked to the loss of her dad, her strained relationship with her mum or her past battle with depression.

Scarlet, who lives with Peter, Bear, now one, India, two and Anais, five, said: ‘I will probably be on medication for the rest of my life.

Scarlet, who also has daughters India, two, and Anais, five, gave birth to Bear at Sussex County Hospital

‘I’m happy about that if it makes me a good mum.’

She added: ‘I don’t think enough people know about postpartum psychosis and it’s really important for anyone who is pregnant.

‘They need to be aware what the symptoms are.’

Husband Peter added: ‘Scar was frantically cleaning and feeding Bear and she wouldn’t sleep – she was so paranoid about him she would watch over him sleeping.

‘She was on overdrive and was trying to juggle everything single-handedly.

‘It was heartbreaking. I didn’t know if she would ever come back.’