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CNN Live At Daybreak

Five Houston Children Killed: Examining Postpartum Depression

Aired June 21, 2001 - 07:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Getting back now to one of our top stories: really a horrific find by the Houston Police Department when they responded to a 911 call by 36-year-old Andrea Yates, who told them over the telephone that she killed her children. Five children were found dead in the house.

She is being held currently without bail. And we get a little background on her: that she was suffering from postpartum depression -- even tried to commit suicide a couple of years ago, according to her husband.

Joining us right now is our Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk more about the severity of postpartum depression and how you can detect some of the symptoms.

Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

LIN: The Mayo Clinic defines postpartum depression by these following characteristics. They say constant fatigue, lack of joy in life, emotional numbness, withdrawal from the family and also from friends.

GUPTA: Right.

LIN: But when you just take it on face value, it sounds like just a bad day. Distinguish for us what is postpartum depression vs. just feeling under the weather.

GUPTA: Sure. Well, postpartum depression, first of all, is characterized by occurring in the postpartum period. People aren't really sure why that occurs. Some people say it's because the hormonal balance changes so dramatically after the baby is born. Estrogen levels fall. Some of the male hormone levels fall. Some of those things are associated with mood. So when they fall, it sometimes causes depression.

There's also another characteristic of postpartum depression that differentiates it from other depression. That is a real compulsion with the infant, him or herself, whether there is feelings of worthlessness, not being able to care for the infant or feelings of worthlessness as a mother. LIN: But are those feelings so extreme that they would cause you to do something completely out of character, abnormal, possibly even criminal?

GUPTA: Well, they can.

And when you talk about postpartum depression, it's important to distinguish that there's sort of maternity or baby blues, which a lot of people hear about. It occurs in a lot of women, a significant number. Then there's postpartum depression, which occurs in about 10 percent of women. Then there's another entity called postpartum psychosis -- or just psychosis -- which occurs about 0.1 to 0.2 percent of the time.

LIN: So how do you know if you have it?

GUPTA: Postpartum psychosis is very extreme, very dramatic. And what they -- it's usually marked by hallucinations and delusions. And some of the -- some of the experts in this field will even talk about those hallucinations being centered around the infant dying or being demonic or something like that.

LIN: And you could have this without any history of mental illness, right, in your family?

GUPTA: You're more likely to get it if you've had a history, a family history or personal history, of mental illness. But, certainly, all women are at risk for this.

LIN: Can you prevent it?

GUPTA: You -- if you've had any particular episodes in the past, you should certainly get those treated. And you can see warning signs very early on after postpartum, after -- in the postpartum period -- and get treated right away.

I think a lot of women are somewhat reluctant to get treated because they're worried, for instance, if they're breast-feeding, will some of those medications get passed on to their infant? And there are a lot of safe medications, where women can get treated and knock out the postpartum depression very early on.

LIN: So what should your family do if they're noticing these symptoms, but perhaps the mother is in denial or incapable of recognizing them?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's one of the most widely studied, yet most under recognized entities. And that's because people sort of see a mom being, you know, not quite herself afterwards. Sometimes, these can be early signals. And if it persists for more than a few weeks -- more than four weeks, in particular -- go see a doctor. Know that there's good treatment out there. Whether it be just cognitive, you know, psychological therapy or whether it actually be medications, there are good things to do out there for this.

LIN: Dr. Gupta, when you heard about this story, I'm sure you had the visceral response that many of us had. And, frankly, I was in disbelief. So what you're saying is, medically, this is conceivable. It's conceivable that a mother could be so depressed and affected -- and for two years after a birth, even?

GUPTA: Yes. Well, let me mention another thing about the psychosis is that, while it occurs immediately in the postpartum period, first four weeks, what they have found is that 18 to 24 months later, there's another incidence of this same postpartum psychosis.

LIN: It can recur.

GUPTA: Now, you know, this is obviously so tragic. I've never heard of something quite like this before. But I guess, based on what the experts have learned about postpartum psychosis, it is conceivable, as you say.

LIN: All right, Thank you very much, Dr. Gupta.

GUPTA: Thank you.

LIN: Big picture always helpful in a very mysterious story.

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