adele laura dockrill

Adele 'saved best friend Laura Dockrill's life' following postpartum psychosis diagnosis

Laura Dockrill details her experience with postpartum psychosis

Deputy Online Editor
May 7, 2021

Adele may be a global superstar, but she has always been there for her loved ones when they needed her the most.

A month after the birth of her son, her best friend - writer Laura Dockrill - was in a psychiatric ward after she experienced severe delusions due to postpartum psychosis.

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And it was the singer, whom she has been friends with since they were at the BRIT school together, who had googled the condition and suggested she get checked by a medical expert.

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Appearing on Steph's Packed Lunch on Thursday, Laura said of her son's arrival: "I feel legit, I had a happy healthy pregnancy. I was very in love supported by my friends and family and amazing partner. No reason why anything should go wrong…

"But it came completely out of the blue. I had extremely chaotic traumatic labour that ended in an emergency caesarean and then very quickly, things began to unravel."

© Photo: Instagram

Adele is godmother to Laura's son Jet

Postpartum psychosis is a serious mental health illness that can affect someone soon after having a baby. According to the NHS, it affects around 1 in 500 mothers after giving birth.

Symptoms vary from a persistent feeling of sadness and low mood, lack of energy and hallucinations to paranoia and manic moods. Postpartum psychosis is always a medical emergency and women experiencing it need urgent specialist care within a Mother and Baby Unit.

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Detailing her symptoms, Laura continued: "So this is three years ago now. So my little boy, Jet, is three. After the emergency caesarean, we found out that Jet was born small… So I think that's where the early sort of sleep, deprivation kicked in and I wasn't sleeping.

"I got insomnia, racing thoughts and these sorts of beginning seeds of anxiety. They quickly turned into delusions conspiracies. I was getting palpitations, having anxiety attacks."

© Photo: Getty Images

Adele googled the condition for her friend

She explained: "Luckily, I had no negative feelings towards Jet, which I'm really grateful, but I did have extremely horrible insidious, thoughts towards myself at times."

At this point, Adele stepped in. "So she actually she's not just a pop star, she's apparently a doctor now because she also… well my conspiracy theories got so out of control. My paranoia, I mean I've never expected anyone that lives alongside paranoia you just can't trust anybody.

"I lost all faith in my family and friends. The very people that loved me, which was so painful."

Laura paid tribute to Adele on her birthday with this snap on Wednesday

During an episode, she called her celebrity friend who immediately sought help. "I called [Adele]. I believed my father-in-law had tried to hypnotize me. I told her down FaceTime, and she kind of got off the phone, rushed me off, which she never does. And then she googled psychosis after birth.

"It just pinged up on the NHS website as a medical emergency… with a mental illness I thought I'll just ride it out and not go to hospital."

Last year, Laura published her memoir, What Have I Done?, about her experience of postpartum psychosis, and how she is raising awareness of a condition.

Asked what it's like having Adele as a best friend, Laura replied: "It's fun. It's really, it's amazing. It's is proof that dreams can happen."

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