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American Morning

Postpartum Depression: Diagnosis and Treatment

Aired June 21, 2001 - 10:07   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's get a medical perspective on postpartum depression. For that, we turn to Dr. Kimberly Yonkers. She has done extensive research on postpartum depression and is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.

Doctor, good morning. Thanks for joining us.

DR. KIMBERLY YONKERS, ASST. PROF. OF PSYCHIATRY, YALE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Good morning.

KAGAN: First of all, can you tell us: What is postpartum depression? What physically happens to a woman when she has that?

YONKERS: Well, depression during the postpartum period is what postpartum depression is. So it's major depressive disorder or minor depressive disorder occurring during the time somebody is postpartum, generally within six months postpartum. And living with postpartum depression can be extremely anxious, extremely overwhelmed, tearful, unable to function, unable to sleep, unable to eat, unable to care for themselves.

KAGAN: And if indeed this was a case of postpartum depression, this would be an extreme case, obviously. In a more normal case, what exactly is happening?

YONKERS: Well, the more normal cases...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: "Normal" is a weird word to use here, I appreciate that.

YONKERS: Yes, there can be milder cases of postpartum depression where women -- a woman is not rendered functionally impaired, if you will, where she can do the things that she needs to do. But she still may feel despondent, low, blue, lacks pleasure in her life and also have some symptoms of sleep disturbance and appetite disturbance.

Now, sleep disturbances is common, you know, when

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Well, I mean, you have a baby.

YONKERS: Sure. But women with postpartum depression can't sleep even when they have the opportunity to sleep. So that's what really makes it unusual.

KAGAN: We heard that this woman was having treatment. What is standard treatment for this?

YONKERS: Well, again, it depends on the type of and severity of depression. If somebody has a psychotic depression, which is the most severe form, then typically -- and that is actually characterized by auditory hallucinations, hearing voices, seeing things that aren't there, being very, very paranoid.

If an individual has that sort of depression, then typically they're treated by standard antidepressant medication and an antipsychotic medication. And they may also receive something called electroconvulsive therapy, which is very rapid and effective.

KAGAN: How does that work?

YONKERS: It basically just changes the biochemistry in the brain. It's what we call, for lack of a better term, simply a brain seizure. It's not a body seizure. It's just electricity going through the brain. And it corrects the chemical imbalance that causes the illness. And it's extremely rapid and extremely effective, especially in situations like this, where you want mom back home and well as quickly as possible so that she can bond to her new child and take care of her other children.

More milder forms of depression are treated by psychotherapy as well as medication treatments -- and sometimes both. So we actually have a very -- I think a very effective armamentarium to treat women with postpartum depression.

The problem is that a lot of women don't seek treatment. Sometimes they think it's just part of being postpartum -- just like you're tired when you're postpartum -- or that it's just going to blow over and disappear after a certain period of time. So what we see is a lot of undertreatment and underdetection on the part of clinicians of the postpartum depression.

KAGAN: And I guess the most important message for women out there, whether it's a mild form or more extreme, is to go and please ask for help.

YONKERS: Absolutely. Absolutely.

KAGAN: Dr. Kimberly Yonkers, thank you.

YONKERS: OK.

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