The massive health care reform bill the U.S. Senate passed on Christmas Eve also would study the causes and treatment of postpartum depression.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., included five pages on depression as part of his efforts to get the nation to mirror the way New Jersey addresses the mental-health disorder. The entire bill comprises 2,409 pages.
Postpartum depression, also called perinatal mood disorder, affects as many as one in eight mothers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2006, New Jersey became the first state in the country to require hospitals and clinics to offer depression screening to new mothers. The patients are not obligated to take the simple 10-item questionnaire called the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. It is designed to detect possible signs of depression by asking questions such as, “In the past seven days, I have felt sad or miserable: most of the time, quite often, not very often or not at all.”
“It is a screening tool. Just because one tests at high risk does not mean they have postpartum depression,” said Celeste Wood, assistant commissioner with the state Department of Health and Human Services.
“It can trigger further referrals to mental-health professionals or peer counseling to provide support,” she said.
The state estimates that each year 11,000 to 16,000 mothers suffer from some form of the disorder. Women can develop symptoms during their pregnancy or months afterward, Wood said.
Tags: depression, postpartum, postpartum depression, ppd
