The Washington Post weighed in on postpartum depression screening today with a piece from Jennifer Kogan, who is a clinical social worker and contributor to the Post.
Kogan argues that both obstetricians and pediatricians should be screening pregnant and new mothers. I was happy to be interviewed for her piece, and I agree with her that we need more postpartum depression screening.
I know this isn’t news to all of you, but I think it still is for obstetricians and pediatricians. You may wonder why the issue of postpartum depression screening is still even up for debate, but it has been for years, and is one of the reasons why the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has never mandated screening. While they strongly urge it, they haven’t required it because they felt there wasn’t enough data on which screening tool to use and when and how often a new mom should be screened.
A new study published in the Annals of Family Medicine finds that postpartum depression screening is effective. The study looked at nearly 2,000 mothers and found that family practices that screened patients and had comprehensive plans for managing and referring those identified as needing help led to moms with better long-term outcomes. Here’s more about it from Journal Watch.
That it’s even a topic of debate is so frustrating. The numbers speak for themselves, with so many women suffering and the number who are suffering without treatment, why would better screening practices NOT be needed and called for?
Additionally, not only is more screening needed, but the screening itself needs to be revamped. The questionnaire they do in Texas can be hard to understand if you’re coming at it from a position of not knowing much about it. And regardless of whether you know a lot about it or not, it’s easy to give the right answers, and with nobody actually TALKING to you about it, to cover up how you’re actually feeling and what you’re really dealing with/going through. Screening needs to be better quality and more hands on, and follow up has to be improved.
Thank you for your post about this issue. Hopefully some changes will be made and things will improve rapidly.
So so true. My OB was reluctant to talk to me about anxiety because it wasn’t a “postpartum concern.” I think some doctors/hospitals really need a reminder of what we are going through.