Postpartum Depression: Will the Rate Go Up Or Remain Hidden?

2002 JAN 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women who have recently given birth are among the most vulnerable to the anxieties triggered since September 11, reported Diana Dell, MD, assistant professor in the departments of obstetrics and psychiatry at Duke University. "The largest number of emergency psychiatric calls I received in the weeks following September 11 were from first-time, postpartum mothers, followed by first-time dads," she said. "It's not surprising that new parents are particularly anxious about the future."

Dell, who spoke at a recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists press conference, called postpartum depression (PPD) "the most under-recognized, under-diagnosed, and undertreated obstetrical complication in America." She noted that recent events - such as the case of Houston housewife Andrea Yates, who had a history of depression and is charged with murdering her five children following the birth of a child - have brought widespread attention to the issue of PPD. But Dell worried about the effects of any public opinion backlash against new mothers who harm their children. "As the details of certain cases unfold, sympathy for postpartum illness may evaporate in a public that has ...