All the feels. Teen Mom star Catelynn Lowell opened up about her battle with postpartum depression on the Friday, November 11, episode of The Doctors, and she and husband Tyler Baltierra revealed that it had a huge impact on their relationship.
“It affected [our marriage] as far as our communication goes,” Baltierra, 24, said. “For the first time, we didn’t know how to communicate because we never went through it before and we didn’t know anything about postpartum. It’s definitely created a little bit of tension.”
The reality star added that he might not have reacted to the situation in the best way. “I think I probably handled it wrong because I didn’t know,” he said. “I was very naive.… I was maybe a little insensitive.”
As fans of the hit MTV series remember, Lowell, 24, checked herself into a rehab facility shortly after their daughter Nova turned 14 months old.
“It’s funny because I thought about going away for a long time, like, ‘Oh I need help, I need help,’ but I just was like, ‘Eh, I can do it by myself, I can do it by myself,’” she said of debating whether or not to go to rehab. “And then it was like finally coming to this realization that I don’t think this was just panic disorders and depression, I think this is something more.”
Baltierra explained that he had researched treatment facilities and finally approached Lowell with the option to take some time away from home to get better, hitting what Dr. Mike Dow called the “sweet spot.”
“On one side of the spectrum you have, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and policing and saying, ‘Something’s wrong with you.’ And that, for a lot of people, our defenses go up. And we sort of shy away from treatment,” Dow, a psychotherapist, said. “But the other side of the spectrum, the spouses will sort of enable. Their spouse is sleeping all day and they’re just bringing the meals to bed and they don’t do anything. So I think the best thing is finding that sweet spot in the middle, and you say, like Tyler did to Catelynn, ‘I think you need help. Can we find somebody?’”
One thing that has definitely helped the couple’s relationship, they explained, has been staying away from negative comments on social media.
“We’re so used to rumors.… We’ve read so much stuff that is wrong, it makes you laugh,” Baltierra said.
