Overview
- Horn identifies career upheaval, the postpartum period after her 2017 daughter’s birth, and the COVID-19 pandemic as triggers for three major depressive phases.
- She recalls being unable to manage basic self-care during her worst periods and says an ex-boyfriend secured a psychotherapy placement that helped her recover.
- Her third and most recent severe phase occurred during the pandemic, when her husband handled most childcare and household duties as the strain affected the whole family.
- Psychiatrist Prof. Ulrich Hegerl adds clinical context about heightened vulnerability around childbirth, including how extended time in bed can worsen mood in predisposed patients.
- Horn says she now feels on a good path and would seek help again if needed; the conversation appears on ARD Gesund’s ‘Raus aus der Depression’ with Harald Schmidt and Prof. Hegerl, following her 2022 memoir on depression.