Postpartum depression articles
Q.This month's American Psychological Association Monitor includes two brief articles covering postpartum depression: http://www.apa.org/monitor/hope.html http://www.apa.org/monitor/help.html
A.Postpartum depression and psychosis have been in the news since Andrea Yates of Houston was charged with killing her five children last year by drowning them in the family bathtub. Doctors estimate that nearly 65 percent of all women who have given birth suffer some sort of depression. But only in 1 percent of cases does the depression give way to the type of psychosis that Yates said drove her to harm her children. A Bay County woman named Sheryl (not her real name) said she was one who went through the baby blues. She said she experienced a range of feelings after the birth of her son, which was not a planned pregnancy. One day she was fine, and the next day depression would hit her. "Everything went relatively normal during the pregnancy," she said. "As we were taking him home, I went through the anxiety of feeling I did not know what I was doing. "About nine months after I had him, I just wanted to go home and sleep. I didn't care about anything else and became overly obsessed with him. I was afraid someone was going to kidnap him or he was going to have a freak accident." Sheryl said she had vivid dreams of her son being eaten by a shark or attacked by an alligator. After a month of experiencing those feelings, the dam burst. "I came in to work one day and, out of the blue, I just cried all day long," she said. "I could not figure out what was wrong as it was so unlike me. So I went to one of my co-workers, and she told me to call my doctor. He was very concerned, and he made me an appointment with a psychiatrist, and that is how I found out I was going through postpartum depression." The first step to understanding the problem is realizing that at some point in life almost everyone becomes depressed. Dr. Edward Gibson, medical director of Life Management Center of Northwest Florida, said the term "depression" that the medical community uses has a different meaning than the term the rest of us use in everyday life. "All of us suffer from depression, which is when we get a little bit sad," Gibson said. "That is normal and is temporary and is nothing other than mildly discomforting. Depression in mental illness always impairs function and is literally life-threatening." Dr. Patricia Sinicrope, a psychiatrist at the Cornerstone Center in Panama City, said postpartum depression is best summed up as a mood disorder. "This disorder occurs following the birth of a child and generally is brought on by hormonal changes, which triggers the mood disorder," she said. "Depression also does tend to run in families. And there are certain risk factors." At first, Sheryl said, she resisted treatment. "When my (doctor) suggested I needed to see a psychiatrist, I said, 'Excuse me, I am not crazy,'" she said. "But I knew it was the best thing I needed to do. I did not want my child to grow up with an overly anxious mom. I wanted him to grow up in an environment that was suitable to him." Sinicrope said treatment for the disorder is relatively simple. "Patients with postpartum depression seem to respond to the class of drugs that are known as seratonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI)," she said. "Clearly there is something chemical going on or the person would not respond positively to that type of intervention." Prozac, Effexor, Paxil, Celexa and Zoloft are the common SSRIs prescribed. Sinicrope said a key to treatment is simply getting the patient to the doctor. Many patients feel a sense of shame about postpartum depression, she said. "Embarrassment and guilt are two major factors," she said. "We are led to believe that we are going to be thrilled to become a new mother. But I can assure you that becoming a new mother is an exhausting business." Sheryl was put on Effexor, which did not work for her. When her doctor switched her to Celexa, she began to see a change. "I am a normal person who could not understand why I was going through this depression," Sheryl said. "I have had people on my side of the family say, 'Why are you taking those drugs? You don't need to take this medication.' I have told them I have to take this medication and that I don't have a choice.
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