Next Tuesday June 14, there will be a Postpartum Depression Awareness Event at the Boston State House from 12:00 PM to 2;30 PM. This is an event hosted by Representative Ellen Story, Senator Joan Lovely, [...]
About 15% of women suffer from postpartum depression (PPD). It appears, however, that women with PPD constitute a heterogeneous population. One difference that we observe clinically is that a subgroup of women with PPD experience [...]
![By Vera Kratochvil [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://womensmentalhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mother_Kissing_Baby-320x202.jpg)
About ten years ago, we ran a collaborative project with our obstetrics department here at MGH where we screened all new mothers for postpartum depression. The screening went well. Nearly all the women completed the [...]
Most studies evaluating the prevalence of perinatal depression are cross-sectional, meaning that depressive symptoms are measured at a single point in time. Less information is available regarding the trajectory of perinatal depression. In obstetric populations, it seems that there are women with briefer episodes of milder postpartum depressive symptoms, while others have more persistent and debilitating depressive symptoms after childbirth. Other women experience depression during pregnancy. Several studies suggest that there is considerable heterogeneity among women who experience depressive symptoms during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
