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(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.
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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
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