Psychosis is one of the least understood mental health issues among the general public, even more so when the person experiencing it has just given birth.

But one mum wants to share the reality of postpartum psychosis to reduce stigma, after the birth of her triplets made her believe her partner was plotting against her and she could see through walls.

Charity Horton, 33, couldn’t relax after babies Raine, Poppy and River were born, and once she got home from hospital barely slept for an entire week.

Soon she became very ill, and was convinced she was starving her tiny babies – despite actually looking after the perfectly healthy trio alongside wife Sarah, 32.

Charity even wrongly believed her mother-in-law Cheryl Horton, 52, and wife were hiding her medication, and that Cheryl’s dog was going to eat the babies.

In the month after her babies’ birth her mental health spiralled, and she started to hallucinate thinking she could see through the walls.

Convinced magpies in her garden were a sign of bad luck, she’d chase them out the garden of their home in St Austell, Cornwall.

After a month, brave Charity confessed she was having thoughts about self harm, and was admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. She spent two weeks receiving inpatient treatment, when she was well enough to go home.

Charity, a CCTV manager, said: ‘At first I didn’t think there was anything wrong; I just thought I was high on life after having these three beautiful girls.

‘Then we got home and I was so frightened of having to look after them. I was sure I was doing it wrong.

‘I convinced myself I had to feed them all at once. I couldn’t switch off or sleep at all. It was like I was wired.’

Whenever the babies were quiet she believed they had died, and while they were awake she felt like had to be tending to the newborns.

Things got too much, and Charity said: ‘It just got worse and worse, until I wanted to kill myself because I was in so much pain. I just wanted the anxiety to stop.’

‘Looking back now it seems so scary. I just can’t believe that happened.’

Charity says she’s making up for lost time now she’s better, adding that ‘it’s brilliant being a new mum now’.

She added: ‘At least if my girls go through mental health problems I’ll know how to help.’

Charity became pregnant following artificial insemination using a sperm donor in August 2020, and along with wife Sarah, an HGV driver, was over the moon.

Things began to turn when the new mums bought the babies home following a problem-free delivery. Charity was restless and struggling to sleep, and despite being prescribed antidepressants and sleeping pills she was still exhausted.

She said: ‘It was like I’d gone schizophrenic over night. Even when I started sleeping I was obsessing over things.

‘I kept thinking people were testing me to see if I could cope. I thought my wife and her mother were watching me on the baby monitor to see if I made mistakes.

‘I thought they were hiding my medicine so they could drug me to make me stop talking.’

Then came the obsessions, which for Charity focused mainly around birds in the garden. In her confused and drained mindset, she believed magpies were an omen that the triplets were in danger while robins were a good omen for the family.

Hallucinations, another side effect of postpartum psychosis, frightened her, and Charity then started to self harm. The troubled mum once tried to put her foot in scalding water to see if she could feel the pain.

It wasn’t until she disappeared, threatening to take her life, that family got in touch with mental health support services and it became clear what was going on.

‘I knew there was something wrong but not what it was,’ she said. ‘I desperately needed help.’

Charity continued: ‘I threatened to hurt and then kill myself because I was hoping somebody would realise that I wasn’t me and that I was in this horrible place.

‘I just wanted to feel like myself again.’

Thankfully Charity is now back to feeling like herself, thanks to a two-week stay in Longreach mental health acute psychiatric ward and a six-month course of antipsychotic medicine.

She now hopes others will learn the signs and get help when they need it.

Charity said: ‘It’s a medical emergency – if somebody gets it you need to ring an ambulance it’s that bad.

‘It’s rare, but be on the look out for your family and friends; just be aware of what can happen.

‘One minute you seem fine but the next you don’t know what’s going on.’

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