[NYAPRS Enews] Study: Peer Support Helps Postpartum Depression

[Matt Canuteson]

RESEARCH: Moms with Postpartum Depression Helped by Peer Support

Opposing Views January 21st 2009

 

According to the American Psychiatric Association, about one in ten
mothers suffer from postpartum depression, a psychological illness that
brings on feelings of exhaustion, hopelessness and confusion days or
even years after delivery. Women suffering from postpartum depression
have traditionally been treated with a mixture of therapy and
medication, but a new study published in the British Medical Journal
suggests that peer counseling may be a new and powerful tool treatment
option.

 
Designed by Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis of the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at
the University of Toronto, the study followed a group of about 700 women
who had all been diagnosed with postpartum depression. The control group
was given standard care, while the second group received a weekly phone
call from a peer counselor who had also experienced postpartum
depression.

 
Both groups were measured according to the Edinburgh Postnatal
Depression Scale (EPDS), with those receiving a score of 12 or higher on
the scale considered depressed. After twelve weeks 25% of the control
group still had an EPDS score of over 12, compared to only 14% of the
women who had received peer counseling.

  
While experts caution that it's still too early to declare peer
counseling an outright success, it certainly appears that mothers
suffering from postpartum depression could greatly benefit by spending
more time talking to women like them, and that's good news for moms
everywhere.

 

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/research-moms-with-postpartum-depr
ession-helped-by-peer-support

 

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