Issue date: 9/22/06 Section: Features

Media Credit: Kevin Manning Post partum depression is a serious illness that affects one in eight American women.

Post-partum depression, commonly known as PPD, is a disorder that can leave women in a severe melancholy state after giving birth, affecting one in eight new mothers. It is a disorder that is affecting a large percentage of women but do we, as a society, understand PPD and what it entails? Society has seen its fatal affects of Villanova's Mine Ener, the controversy it causes with celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Brook Shields and new laws have been created to increase awareness this past year - but what is it that we are missing?

"There is a difference between "baby blues" that most mothers experience and postpartum depression," Dr. April Perrymore, assistant professor of psychology, said. According to the National Mental Health Association, "baby blues" involve milder symptoms and occur in 70 to 80 percent of all new mothers. It typically develops three or four days after delivery and the symptoms usually disappear after a couple of weeks, unlike PPD. PPD normally begins to make its mark three to four weeks after delivery and can last anywhere from three months to a year. (FitPregnancy.com)

"PPD is a clinical onset of depression from the hormonal changes that take place after giving birth," Perrymore said. "We all experience a day where we might feel depressed; however, it is not as severe as a depressive episode. With PPD, women experience depression but it's not just the "baby blues, it's a real clinical depressive episode," she said.

Physical systems of PPD include exhaustion, sluggishness, fatigue, sleep and appetite disturbances not related to care of the baby, headaches, chest pains, hyperventilation, and heart palpitations. Women also may experience emotions and behaviors such as increased crying, irritability, hopelessness, uncontrollable mood swings and fear of harming the baby, her partner, or herself.

Studies on PPD have proposed two different views on the actual cause of the disorder. Many researchers claim that PPD is hormonally based; however, some say it is due to particular circumstances in new mothers' lives.

"It really depends on the individual," Dr. Perrymore said. "Sometimes it's extremely physical and it's about the serotonin levels in their brain, but sometimes it's that life gets too stressful and they begin to experience symptoms of a depressive disorder. They say that after the birth of a baby, it's the hardest time in a marriage, anyway, for the couple."

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