Another Voice for Postpartum Depression

In May’s Vogue, Gwyneth Paltrow speaks about having postpartum depression after the birth of her son Moses. I applaud her and Brook Shields, who also spoke and wrote about her postpartum depression experience. It is a very common ailment and something that is not to be ashamed of.

From Vogue:
“I didn’t know I had it until after it was over,” the actress, 35, says. “I just didn’t know what was wrong with me.” She suspects her depression stemmed from scaling back on her usual pre-baby treatments like acupuncture. “I felt really out of my body,” Paltrow says after giving birth. “I felt really disconnected. I felt really down … I felt pessimistic.”



For more information on PPD, check out BabyCenter's page, Health and Human Services' Women's Health page, and NIH's MedLinePlus page.

Bipolar or Catchall Diagnosis?

There is a flurry on the web and an article in every major city paper this morning about the increase in bipolar diagnoses in youth and whether children are being properly diagnosed. The articles all reference a new study that was released in September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. The study is the most comprehensive study on bipolar disorder to date.

The researchers looked at records of patient visits from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey that was conducted from 1999-2003 for 962 patients with a bipolar diagnosis. An abstract from the journal can be seen here. To get the full PDF of the scholarly article, you have to fork up $15.

The big finding is that there has been 40-fold increase in children being treated for the condition in the United States between 1994 and 2003, when numbers jumped from 20,000 to 800,000. Most experts agree that the number of children with the condition is not actually increasing, but rather it is being noticed more often. Many other experts assert that it is over diagnosed. They say that bipolar disorder has become a catchall for explosive or aggressive child.

Other interesting highlights from the research include:

- Most youth (19 and under) bipolar disorder doctor visits were males, while most adult bipolar visits were females

- Youth were more likely than adults to get a combination diagnosis of bipolar-ADHD

- Most youth (90%) were prescribed psychotropic medication during their visits

More information:
US News and World report article
New York Times article
Los Angeles Times article

Do You Cradle to the Left or Right?

A recent study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry reports that mothers who cradled their babies in the right arm showed signs of stress and could be at higher risk of depression than those who tended to cradle their baby in their left arm.

The study was small and only looked at 79 mothers, but the results showed a significant trend. The new mothers were asked to pick up and cradle their babies and then complete a survey which asked them about their mental state.

Of the mothers who showed no signs of stress or depression, 86 percent held their babies to the left. Among stressed mothers with 32 percent cradled to right.

Nadja Reissland, a developmental psychologist at Durham University, who lead the study said that that there was no connection between side preference and whether a person was right- or left-handed.

Mom Blue? Dad's Turn to Step Up

St. Louis University released findings on a study that showed children with depressed mothers are less likely to develop problem behaviors if their fathers are active in family life.

The 10-year study is the first to look at the father's role when the household has a depressed mother. Previous studies have shown that having a mother who suffers from depression increases the likelihood of developing aggression problems, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety.

The father's relative role was determined by questioning children aged 10 and older. The researchers asked the children questions about their relationship with their father. Examples include; how often they talked about important decisions, how well the father listened, how often the father attended events or activities, and how close they felt to their father.

Dr. Jen Jen Chang, assistant professor of community health in epidemiology at the Saint Louis University School of Public Health commented on her study,"Once we factored in a father's positive involvement, I observed that the adverse impact of the mother's depression was attenuated. The father served as a buffer. He may have engaged with the children when the mother wasn't available due to her illness."

Good News for SSRI Takers

The New England Journal of Medicine posted two studies today with the same overall conclusion: taking SSRIs during early pregnancy was not associated with increased risk in birth defects.

Between the two studies, 19,471 newborns with birth defects and 9,952 without them were observed. The first study states in it's conclusion,

"Our findings do not show that there are significantly increased risks of craniosynostosis, omphalocele, or heart defects associated with SSRI use overall. They suggest that individual SSRIs may confer increased risks for some specific defects, but it should be recognized that the specific defects implicated are rare and the absolute risks are small."

This is fantastic news for those taking SSRIs and contemplating pregnancy. Both mother and child can be healthy and happy.