June 9, 2009

Watch Shoshana Bennett's PPD videos on EmpowHer

This is a must-see ... Dr. Shoshana Bennett, past president of Postpartum Support International and a past president of California's state organization Postpartum Health Alliance, speaks out on PPD in a video series on EmpowHer.  

One of the videos that I believe is a powerful topic to explore is whether or not PPD can go away by itself.  One study that Dr. Shosh quotes showed that 25% of women who had PPD were still deeply depressed one year out.  

I'm wondering if this statistic might be low.  Or if there are a lot more women (besides the 25% who are deeply depressed), who are just ever so slightly or even mildly depressed and remain so for a long, long time.  And then become a lot more depressed over time until chronic depression sets in.

All I know is that I've known plenty of mothers who are obviously depressed, even many years after their kids are born.  They might overeat or chain smoke or drink a little too much from time to time, or do other things to take the edge off.  But deep down they're depressed.  And their depression could have very well started as PPD and then left untreated to fester over time.  I wonder how many women who end up being prescribed anti-depressants in their mid-life, when their kids are well into elementary school and beyond, are actually suffering from PPD.....

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