Jennifer Ellison has opened up about her battle with postnatal depression following the birth of her first son.
The Brookside actress insisted that more needs to be done to support sufferers, confessing that she was "terrified" the condition would return after she welcomed her second son in July.
"There was kind of the baby blues that never went away and it was only that I was very lucky that my mum had suffered with it that she saw the signs straight away so my postnatal depression was treated pretty quickly," Ellison told Daybreak.
"But there's so many women out there who are suffering with it and there's such a stigma attached to it.
"If you only look at adverts on TV, we're programmed to think that this is the most special time in your life and you're going to have this instant bond and this instant connection and for some mums it just doesn't happen and then they feel that they're a failure."
She added: "I was really terrified [it would return] because it just doesn't affect me and the baby, it affects the whole family and also I had my little boy.
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"Having a new brother or sister is a big enough change for him so for his mum going through depression as well, that was just terrifying to think of."
Ellison was recently rescued by a lifeboat after getting into trouble while fishing.
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