(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Roughly 13 percent of women suffer from postnatal
depression in the year after they give birth, but new information shows women
can be effectively identified and treated.
Postnatal depression frequently goes undetected and untreated, often because the
symptoms are not recognized or because mothers fear being stigmatized or aren't
aware of treatment options exist. Antidepressants have been shown to be
effective in treating the condition, but oftentimes women do not want to take
drugs, especially when breastfeeding.
In one of the largest studies of postnatal depression, researchers looked at the
effectiveness of psychological interventions. Over 4,000 mothers in England
received either cognitive behavioral therapy or a person centered approach.
Treatment was administered by either health visitor usual care or by specially
trained health visitors trained to identify depressive symptoms.
At
both six months and 12 months postnatally, the mothers who received care from
the specially trained health visitors showed significantly reduced symptoms of
depression compared to those who received health visitor usual care. Mothers in
the intervention group with depressive symptoms at six weeks were 40 percent
less likely to have depressive symptoms at six months than those receiving
health visitor usual care.
Another study out of Canada also found mothers who receive peer support from
other mothers cut their risk of developing depression in half.
SOURCE: BMJ.com Today, published online January 15, 2009
