Postpartum depression least severe form of depression in mothers
Deciphering the onset time can impact how the doctor treats the woman's depression, such as intervening earlier with psychiatric help, if needed, said Sheehan Fisher, the study's corresponding author and an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "There's a difference between postpartum depression and depression that started before or during the pregnancy. It's not a homogenous disorder, " Fisher said. "When clinicians see a mother during the postpartum period and diagnose her with depression, it's important for them to ask how long this depression has been an issue so they can assess the longevity and severity." The study, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders , is one of the first to evaluate the rate of depression in mothers at the three onset time points: 24.9 percent of participants developed depression pre-pregnancy, 36.7 percent developed it during p...