She expected to feel delighted following the birth of her son.

Instead, says Gwyneth Paltrow, it was “one of the ­darkest and most painfully debilitating ­chapters” of her life.

The Oscar-winning actress, 37, who is married to Chris Martin from the band Coldplay, has ­written about her experience of postnatal depression in her online newsletter, Goop.com, in a bid to shed more light on the illness.

She made her comments as it emerged that Scotland’s first and only postnatal depression ­telephone helpline has closed.

Paltrow, who also has a six-year-old daughter, Apple, wrote: “When my son, Moses, came into the world in 2006, I expected to have another ­period of euphoria … much the way I had when my daughter was born two years earlier.

“Instead, I was confronted with one of the darkest and most painfully debilitating chapters of my life.

“For about five months I had what I can see in hindsight as postnatal depression, and since that time I have wanted to know more about it. Not only from a hormonal and scientific standpoint, and why so many of us experience it, but from the perspective of other women who have gone through it.”

According to research, depression affects one in six women around the time of birth.

But last month Bluebell at Parentline Scotland, a helpline dedicated to people with postnatal depression and their families, was formally closed, two years after it launched.

The helpline was a joint ­initiative between Children First (which runs Parentline) and Crossreach, the Church of Scotland’s social care arm. Crossreach withdrew funding, which paid for the helpline’s marketing effort, due to a combination of financial constraints and lower-than-expected call volume.

Calum Murray, director of adult care services at Crossreach, said: “We would have loved to carry on with it, but we have to cut our cloth.”

Although it received 400 calls in the first year, with 150 people receiving help for postnatal depression, call numbers fell to three a week in the last eight months. There were also fewer calls than expected from outwith the central belt.

Murray said: “Probably it would have benefited from more being spent on marketing.”

Those calling the number for the next six months will be put through to Parentline Scotland, whose staff have been trained to help those with postnatal depression.

Parentline’s manager,

Jill Cook, said she expected Parentline to continue receiving calls on postnatal depression. She said: “If women are calling, often they are in a really bad way and in desperate need of help. We have had a few women who are thinking about suicide.

“Often, they don’t say they have postnatal depression. They say they are down, feeling low or feeling suicidal.”

Gillian Cleminson, 26, a hairdresser from Glasgow, experienced postnatal depression after her birth of her daughter ­Isabella, who is now two.

She said: “I think a helpline is a great idea – it’s always good to talk to someone and not feel bad about it.”

Cleminson experienced paralysing panic attacks and was admitted to the Southern ­General Hospital’s specialist postnatal depression unit.

She said she felt like a “total failure” at the time.

Tessa Haring, manager of Crossreach’s Postnatal Depression Service at Wallace House, Edinburgh, says: “There’s a myth that everyone else is coping. We judge a lot by appearances.”

Now, Cleminson has fully recovered and stresses the importance of receiving proper support. “I had cognitive behavioural therapy and that helped enormously, as did my tablets,” she said. “Now I’m better than I’ve ever been.”

Warning signs

Postnatal depression generally sets in four to six weeks after the birth of a child, though it can be longer.

Symptoms include low mood, and feeling unable to cope.

Sufferers may feel others expect them to be overjoyed when they feel anything but.

Postnatal depression can occur after the first, second or subsequent children. There is no rule or pattern