Postpartum Depression-Who's at Risk?
by Barbara Dehn - 27th October 2008
3 Simple Questions may predict who's at Risk
Recently an article in the Journal of Pediatrics found that 3 simple questions might help providers identify new moms at risk for postpartum depression.
For this new screening tool, new mothers were asked to answer "Yes, most of the time," "Yes, some of the time," "Not very often" or "No, never" to the following statements:
1.I have blamed myself unnecessarily when things went wrong.
2.I have felt scared or panicky for not a very good reason.
3.I have been anxious or worried for not a very good reason.
Hopefully, this new shorter version will make it easier and faster to identify moms who are more likely to be depressed and not just experiencing baby blues.
In my practice, we screen all of our new moms 4 weeks after they give birth. For women who are at high risk, we ask them to come in 2 weeks after they deliver. We're fortunate because once we determine that a new mom is depressed, we have many resources to assist us in caring for her, including Dr. Pec Indman, who co-authored Beyond the Blues, a guide to Postpartum Depression.
Here are some good resources for women suffering from postpartum depression:
Postpartum Depression Phone Support:
1 800-773-6667
1 800-PPD-MOMS
Provides phone support 24/7.
Postpartum Support International:
1 800-944-4773
1 800-944-4PPD
There's also postpartum.net and Healthy New Moms.
If you suffered from, or suffer from postpartum depression feel free to contact me in the Ask the RN section of our website. We're also very interested in how many people suffer from it so please take the poll.
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