Susan Dowd Stone on EmpowHER: screening for postpartum mood disorders is a good thing!

On the EmpowHER web site, award-winning therapist and nationally renowned postpartum depression expert Susan Dowd Stone recently wrote an article about the concept of mandated screening for postpartum mood disorders. You can click here to find the article.

In the article, Stone addresses the misconceptions that have been floating around, (mainly due to a backlash of reactions to the MOTHERS ACT legislation), on screening that is offered to new moms. There have been plenty of rumors that women will be forced to be screened for postpartum depression and other postpartum mood disorders, however that is simply not the case.

What I don't understand about all of this is why some women are turning this into a big issue. What are they afraid of? Screening is a great thing, and any health care facilities that offer screening for postpartum mood disorders should be applauded. Women are certainly not going to be forced into screening if they're not interested.

If there had been screening back in 1996, when I went through my own postpartum depression hell, then maybe I wouldn't have experienced PPD in the first place. Any preventative measure like postpartum mood disorder screening can only be helpful to a lot of women and their families.

If you're interested in finding more of Susan Dowd Stone's work, you can visit her web site at: http://www.perinatalpro.com.

PPD Hope offers a hotline available 24/7!

For women who are suffering from postpartum depression and need help now, there is a great hotline that I found at PPD Hope. The number is: (877) PPD-HOPE, or (877) 773-4673. I called it myself late last night just to check it out and make sure that a live person answers. Sure enough, a woman answered the line and confirmed that a live person answers 24 hours every day. You have options to receive free literature on PPD and/or get in touch with their peer support program.

The PPD Hope web site also offers a PPD screening test that you can take on the site so you can quickly and easily find out if you might need medical assistance or counseling.

I think this is a fabulous resource, so I want to help spread the word. PPD Hope was created by the Family Mental Health Institute (FMHI), a non-profit based in Washington, DC. The FMHI is working to make postpartum depression screening a universal standard of care across the U.S. Federal legislation is in the works, however currently this issue is left in the hands of individual states. Hopefully one day in the near future, every new mom will be screened for PPD before she leaves the hospital with her new baby.