Postpartum Depression Screening Tools ?

Q: I should introduce myself as I have been lurking and posting occasionally for a few months now. My name is Corrine and I am mom to two year old Ben and wife to Sean. I am a social worker, doula and childbirth educator. I am a mental health counsellor for women with postpartum depression and run a support program.

A:I hope you stick around, it seems like you could be alot of help on this group. No one did the PPD screening for me. I think if I'd done the Edinburgh one when my son was a couple of weeks old I would have scored really high, but done again at 6 weeks, I would have been fine. Just reading the surveys bought all those feelings back and made me a bit sad. When I told my HV that I was having night sweats she said she'd keep an eye on it incase it developed into PPD. It really scared me and I now know that it was a stupid thing to say. I think what kept me afloat was realising that I could pinpoint what I was feeling so low about, I felt that my feelings were rational, not out of control. One woman in the Comcast.net story opposed the bill, citing concerns over too much screening. “Where does it end?” she asked. “What makes screening for postpartum depression more important then, say, a thyroid condition? If you start mandating what to screen for, where does it stop?” I can see this to a point, but postpartum depression has key factors other diseases don’t: There is a large number of women and families affected,

it is not always easily identified by the women themselves; and it is treatable once identified. It is also easier to screen for a condition like this than something like a thyroid condition. When you have women from all walks of life describing suicidal and homicidal feelings toward themselves and their babies, something must be done. This bill does more than mandate screening. It is a sign of success for women that lawmakers are finally taking notice they may have problems respective to only them and special laws may need to be drafted. In a twisted world where Viagra is often covered by insurance and birth control isn’t, this is a victory for women’s health care.