Postpartum
depression (PPD), the most common perinatal moos disorder, is an
illness that besets a significant number of women around the world.
In the United States alone, over 3.5 million women give birth each
year. Since the rate of PPD is between 15 and 20 percent, about
700,000 of these women will experience postpartum depression. The
rate of gestational diabetes is between 1 and 3 percent and the
rate of a Downs syndrome baby occurring in a 35-year-old mother
is 3 percent. Curiously, we screen routinely for these conditions,
which occur less often than postpartum depression, but we do not
screen for postpartum depression, which afflicts up to one in five
mothers.
While working
in our communities, we have been asked numerous times to provide
simple guidelines for assessment and treatment of perinatal mood
disorders. Mother and their partners have been asking the question,
"Why is this happening to us and what can we do about it?"
Many good books and journal articles have already been written on
this topic. Or main goal is to summarize this information into a
practical, easy-to-use format.
This book is
not meant to be used as a replacement for individual counseling,
group support, or medical assessment, nor do we intend it to be
a comprehensive textbook. While this book will provide critical
information for psychotherapists and clients alike, it is not specifically
intended to teach psychotherapy techniques for working with perinatal
clients. We want, instead, to provide the most essential and up-to
-date diagnostic and treatment information as concisely as possible.
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