Postpartum struggles are REAL, and Scheana Shay is getting candid about hers!

During a recent appearance on Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, the 37-year-old Vanderpump Rules tearfully revealed that she’s been battling postpartum OCD and going to therapy since giving birth to her and Brock Davies’ daughter, Summer Moon, in April 2021. She said on the episode:

“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. It’s something that I’ve been talking about a lot on my [Scheananigans] podcast lately just because I feel like a lot of women will get misdiagnosed with postpartum depression when it’s postpartum OCD.”

Related: Katie Maloney Calls Scheana An ‘Evil Little Troll’ For Encouraging Tom/Raquel Fling!

In case you didn’t know, the National Institute of Health characterizes postpartum OCD as “major mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and psychosis with infanticidal thoughts.” For Scheana, she recalled having some dark intrusive thoughts – which ended up leading to her diagnosis:

“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.’ And one day I just decided to tell my therapist.”

She continued:

“When it started being about my baby … 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? And those thoughts were just so disturbing and once I talked to my therapist about it, she was like, ‘It really sounds like you have postpartum OCD.’”

Since the initial talk with her therapist, the Bravolebrity said she’s made a lot of progress with response prevention therapy, which is exposure to feared situations, typically surrounding infant care, while stopping compulsive rituals:

“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. But I just have to tell myself, ‘This isn’t going to happen, it’s not going to happen, you got this.’”

At one point before seeking treatment, Scheana shared that she wasn’t able to even drive with her baby girl by herself:

“I couldn’t drive by myself with her up until, like, a few months ago. It’s really terrifying being a mom because I don’t want to mess up, I don’t want anything to happen to her when I’m by myself.”

But the momma said she has made significant strides over the past few months to overcome that fear – something she’s super “proud” of:

“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. Several times a week, I either will take her to my mom’s house, I’ll take her to a music class by myself, I took her over to Brittany [Cartwright]’s this weekend by myself. I’m just trying to do more things by myself and that’s made me feel so good. When I get there, I’m like, ‘Yes, I did that on my own.’”

Ultimately, Scheana encourages fellow moms who are going through similar postpartum struggles to “advocate for [themselves]” while at the doctor’s:

“Reach out for help just because there’s so many resources that I just feel so much better in the few short months that I’ve been getting help myself.”

We’re so glad Scheana feels like she’s in a better place now! And it’s great to see she’s using her platform to help end the stigma surrounding postpartum intrusive thoughts and OCD. This undeniably will help new mothers out there. You can watch her podcast interview (below):

[Image via Scheana Shay/Instagram, Bravo/YouTube]