Scheana Shay Gets Emotional Over Struggle With Postpartum OCD

Scheana Shay got candid when speaking about her struggle with postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which she was diagnosed with after giving birth to her first child, Summer Moon, in April 2021.

The “Vanderpump Rules” star spoke about having postpartum OCD on her podcast, “Scheanigans With Scheana Shay,” back in 2022, and opened up further about her progress in therapy during an interview with Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast on February 17, 2023.

“I feel like the amount of work I’ve been doing in therapy with learning I have postpartum OCD, I feel so much more confident as a mom,” she shared, explaining that she was discussing it a lot on her podcast “because I feel like a lot of women will get misdiagnosed with postpartum depression when it’s postpartum OCD.”

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, women who develop obsessive-compulsive symptoms after giving birth can lead to differing diagnoses of “postpartum major mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and psychosis with infanticidal thoughts.” Treatment usually involves certain medications, psychoeducation and response prevention therapy.

“That’s the thing with OCD is that it attaches to your biggest fears and then you just see them happening all of the time and it’s terrifying,” Shay explained to Page Six. “But I just have to tell myself, ‘This isn’t going to happen, it’s not going to happen, you got this.'” She also revealed on her own podcast that she was exploring response prevention therapy as a treatment.

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Scheana Shay Explained That Telling Her Therapist About Her ‘Disturbing’ Thoughts Led to the Diagnosis

While speaking with the “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast hosts, Shay explained that a conversation with her therapist about some of her thoughts is what led to her getting a diagnosis of postpartum OCD. “I was just like, ‘Why am I seeing these things in my head? I don’t want to harm anyone I love. I don’t want these things to happen, but I just kept seeing them,’” she confessed. “And one day I just decided to tell my therapist.”

Shay gave a concrete example of her thoughts, explaining that they started focusing on Summer, who she shares with her husband Brock Davies. “Even when we’re just on our balcony, I know I’m not going to toss her off my balcony but in my head, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what if she just jumped out of my arms right now and fell off the balcony?’” she recounted.

The “Vanderpump Rules” star said it was “so disturbing” to have these thoughts and when she brought it up to her therapist, she first learned about postpartum OCD.

Scheana Shay Said She’s Been Making Good Progress Recently & Is So Proud of Herself

Shay discussed her diagnosis on “Scheananigans” back in December 2022, calling it “no joke.” At the time, she revealed that she wanted to avoid taking medication if possible and was looking into “exposure response therapy.”

Luckily for Shay, she told Page Six she’s been doing great progress in the last few months and started driving with Summer and no one else in the vehicle just a few months prior. She got emotional as she described the “really terrifying” experience of being a mother and being worried about something happening to her daughter when she’s on her own.

“But even though I’m crying right now, I do feel like in the last few months I’m just so proud of myself because I’ve done so much on my own,” she shared.

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