Talk:Postnatal depression

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WikiProject Medicine This article is within the scope of WikiProject Medicine. Please visit the project page for details or ask questions at the doctor's mess.
B This page has been rated as B-Class on the quality assessment scale
High This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance assessment scale

Contents

[edit] An

An issue to be discussed should be the effects on children of the postpartum depressed mother. Does this depression get sent to the child as he learns about the world? Does postpartum depression become part of that childs socialization?

It affects the attachment. See new section. --Westendgirl 00:34, 23 November 2005 (UTC)


This article focuses too much on environmental and social causes of PPD. It should be revised to include biopsychosocial factors. A quick search of PubMed reveals that hormones, endocrine and other biological factors are at play. The current article makes it appear that environmental factors are largely the cause, which conflicts with more recent research. --Westendgirl 07:20, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Aspartame Link Bogus

Not only is the information on aspartame uncited, I think it's pretty groundless. A search of PubMed finds no articles investigating a link between aspartame use and postpartum depression. I think it makes the rest of the article's content seem less credible to maintain this tinfoil-hat food-additives 'theory'. I don't know whether it meets the uncited+harmful criteria for deletion, but someone more wikiexperienced than I am should probably have a look and make a decision about cutting out this material... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.15.188.180 (talk) 23:32, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Take walk in someone shoes

This article needs to be developed. At the moment its very one dimmensional. It needs to be more encompassing. Its very much the soical/lifestyle causes, with minor referrence to other factors. It doesnt effectively cover the effects on the family group its very female centrick. This being said it is NPOV.

It needs to expanded from a US cultural (I'm not being negative) article and explore more diverse source material. It needs to expand on treatment methods, diagnostic/treatment approaches from around the world. The external links needs to have a broader international network of links. Gnangarra 15:10, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

thank you for the article the information and links have in some way helped me Gnangarra

[edit] Explanation of revision

Previously, the article stated that:

"Postpartum depression (also postnatal depression) is a form of major depression for which treatment is widely recommended, and highly effective."

This sentence is somewhat illogical: why would treatment be widely recommended if it were not effective? I therefore edited the sentence to read:

"Postpartum depression (also postnatal depression) is a form of major depression for which treatment is effective and widely recommended."

The previous version then stated:

"Due to the physical, mental, emotional and social stresses on a woman post-birth, combined with the sleep deprivation of parenting a newborn and the plummeting hormonal changes; new mothers are "set up" to experience PND (Post Natal Depression, also known as PPD or Post-Partum Depression)."

However, there is an extensive section on causes that discusses the evidence that supports and refutes many of the assertions in the above sentence. For example, there is virtually no evidence that plummeting levels of hormones cause PPD (note that hormones are not one of the top 13 predictors of PPD). Further, the psychological impact of sleep deprivation has been shown to be different from PPD. Notice that sleep deprivation also does not show up as one of the top 13 predictors of PPD. Depression and sleep deprivation are different phenomena. Childcare stress is an important predictor of PPD, and that is noted as one of the strongest documented predictors in the Causes section, but it is not clear that it should be singled out from the other important predictors (it is number 3 on the list).

The previous version split the evolutionary psychology hypothesis into two sections, but the subheadings "Hypothesised Summary" and "Hypothesized Theory" make little sense. Further, the commentary on the summary section should be moved to its own section. The evolutionary psychology hypothesis section explains the hypothesis; another section can critique the hypothesis, if that is deemed necessary.

[edit] Vandalism?

Just skimming this article for the first time and I saw this under the Causes heading: "The most significant cause of PPD is holding the (pre-natal) belief that once born, the baby will cause the mother to feel as if they are on a triple dose of Ecstasy and LSD. When this is discovered to be untrue, a spiteful and mopey feeling results. " While I'm no doctor, this sounds absolutely ridiculous and absurd so I removed it.

[edit] Explanation of Many Changes Made

I have made several changes to the PPD entry over the past several days and wanted to leave comments as to my additions/deletions and edits.

  • In an attempt to clarify the difference between PPD and PNP on this site, and in order to be consistent throughout the article, I have changed all use of the acronym PPD to mean Postpartum Depression and all use of the acronym PNP to me Postnatal Psychosis. Additionally, for consistency sake, postpartum depression is used over postnatal depression. "postnatal" in most cases is now reserved for "postnatal psychosis". These are very different conditions, and I think it is important readers gather that at first blush.
  • On that same note, I have made a clearer distinction between Baby Blues, PPD and PNP.
  • I have added academic studies on the correlations between mother's race, social class and sexual orientation to the article under the "risk factors" section and have cleaned up this section, enabling it to flow more smoothly and feel more cohesive.
  • I have also added additional information to the "nutrition" portion of the article. The information there prior to my changes, was uncited and therefore largely conjecture. I did not remove all of the information (and suggestions about omega-3s, protein, hydration, vitamins, etc) but did add a disclaimer that women should speak to their health professionals about dietary changes both during pregnancy and postpartum. I did remove the section on aspartame as it was undocumented, unfounded and purely conjecture.
  • I also removed the somewhat "blame-the-patient" tone of the article, removing words such as "fail" and "limit" as it pertained to women's health and nutrition during pregnancy. This may have led some readers to assume that women somehow give themselves PPD by not taking care of their pregnant bodies.
  • Finally, I added several paragraphs to the "Treatment" section of the article, citing several scholarly articles on how treatment works, how fast, and what types of treatment are available.

Symptoms of PPD and when they may occur have also been added. As have symptoms of PNP and its typical occurrence times.

I encourage feedback on my additions/edits.

Thank you.Whboston 19:55, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Explanation of Politics of PPD

With the passage of the "Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act" in October 2007, an update to wikipedia was in order. I have added additional comments on Melanie Blocker-Stokes as well as a section on the Legislation passed and the controversy surrounding it. Sources have been cited. I believe these much needed additions, greatly enhance this entry. Whboston (talk) 02:38, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

This article reads a little too much like an advice column and needs to be edited accordingly. Specifically, please see the previous edit to mine. 131.44.121.252 (talk) 18:45, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Legal Repercussions

Somewhere on this page belongs a discussion of the law enforcement/jurisprudential/child "welfare" response to postpartum depression. At the moment, while the medical response to postpartum depression is relatively modern, the legal response to postpartum depression is somewhere in the 1200's. The authorities stop just short of drilling holes in the mother's head to let the demons out. If a mother evidencing postpartum issues comes in contact with the law, the courts, or the child "welfare" agencies, her children *will* be taken from her and the authorities will do everything they have to (including lie, falsify information, and generate bogus "medical" evidence) to prove that the woman is organically and irreparably mentally damaged. If the woman even considers that she might not be irreparably mentally ill, the court will threaten her and her children with physical and emotional harm until she agrees that she is utterly and untreatably insane. There can be no effective discussion on postpartum issues without a discussion on the excruciating legal and social ramifications imposed on women should they choose to reveal them to anyone. 68.43.166.237 (talk) 19:17, 18 January 2008 (UTC)


Well, you're free to put up a new section to the article if you can find anything to back up your ridiculous claims. I highly doubt you will find even a single instance of a court threatening a woman or her children with violence if she does not declare herself insane. In addition, women who reveal having PPD to any health professional, whether a hospital or a psychiatrist, has nothing to fear, as the HIPA act bars health workers from revealing private details of patients' medical history. Your assertion that any woman who comes forward with PPD will immediately lose their children is highly suspect, and needs citation before anyone takes it seriously.

[edit] Splitting "Postnatal psychosis"

While I'm not very familiar with the subject, judging from what I read in this article, postnatal psychosis (PNP) bears only a loose connection to postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is a form of depression unlikely to cause any significant problems, while postnatal psychosis can be a serious mental illness with possibly bad consequences and the unability of the mother to control her acts. Also, PNP doesn't fit well in the article outline. Admiral Norton (talk) 11:36, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

You are correct. Postpartum psychosis is a psychotic condition whereas postpartum depression does not normally include certain characteristics--delusions, mania, etc.--which are characteristic of the former. I wouldn't say that postpartum depression is unlikely to cause 'significant problems', but the rest of your statement is correct. There's a difference between clinical depression and psychosis. I was in fact disappointed to see that Wikipedia did not have a separate article for postpartum ('postnatal') psychosis. I never would have expected to see them here together. My two cents. --70.59.146.117 (talk) 20:53, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
Sorry, just a little additional corroboration, perhaps: "Post-partum psychosis is very rare. It is not so much a variety of post-partum depression as it is an entity onto itself. It is characterized by homicidal and suicidal impulses, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized and bizarre thinking." Postpartum psychosis —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.59.146.117 (talk) 21:00, 20 March 2008 (UTC)