Check out our sister site, PPD Support HI for a telephone support warm line, a weekly mom & baby support group, referrals to PPD-informed providers, and information about PPD.
The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation invites you to participate in an important webinar:
Identifying and Treating Maternal Depression:
Strategies & Considerations for Health Plans
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EST) [8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. (HST)]
Approximately 20 percent of women experience depressive symptoms during pregnancy and up to 15 percent of women are affected by postpartum depression in the year following the birth of a child. Maternal depression can lead to serious health risks for both the mother and baby that can increase the risk for costly complications during birth and can have permanent effects on child development and well-being. Health plans play an important role in supporting the early identification of maternal depression and coordinating the management of depression to avoid the consequences of untreated depression.
This webinar will explore the prevalence of maternal depression and the current state of screening for perinatal and postpartum depression. It will include a discussion of the recent recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the treatment of women with depression during pregnancy. The role of primary care providers in identifying and managing postpartum depression will also be discussed and a web-based training program to educate providers on screening, diagnosis, treatment and referral for postpartum depression will be shared. Finally, the session will highlight a current health plan program to identify and manage depression during pregnancy and coordinate care following a depression diagnosis to ensure healthy pregnancies and deliveries.
Agenda:
* Overview of Perinatal and Postpartum Depression
* Guidelines for Managing Depression During Pregnancy
* Role of Primary Care Providers in Managing Postpartum Depression
* WellPoint’s Maternity Depression Program
Speakers will include:
* Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor and Director of the Perinatal Psychiatry Program of the University of North Carolina Center for Women’s Mood Disorders
* Kimberly Ann Yonkers, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Director, PMS & Perinatal Research Program, Yale University
* Michael O’Hara, PhD, Professor of Psychology & Starch Faculty Fellow– University of Iowa
*Mindy B. Legere, LMFT, Manager, Health Service Programs, WellPoint Inc.
Electronic agenda are available. Please register by 7 am. (HST) on December 8th, 2009. Registration link: http://nihcm.org/site/item/173
Funded through a grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
The US is one of very few countries that considers maternal infanticide as murder. What?? Other countries don’t consider killing your infant as murder? No. Britain passed their Infanticide Act back in 1922 & 1938 which cast such an event as manslaughter. They recognized Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) back then.
Here’s the article, HERE about State Representative Farrar’s legislation. It’s very good–accurate.
Our own Hawaii PPP incidences have been covered HERE which talks about a woman in 1965 who did virtually the same thing as Andrea Yates, drowning her five children. Mrs. Young was sent to the State Hospital. Five children. Remember that and then explain why 40+ years later how a young mother in Hawaii gets potentially 20 years in prison. That story is HERE
Karen Kleiman of her Postpartum Stress Center in NJ writes,
“Current screening tools for postpartum depression and anxiety do not assess for scary thoughts which are pervasive and highly distressing. Here is a look at the PPSC’s guide for healthcare providers who (hopefully) will begin to integrate a one-question screen into their practices.”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19266870/Scary-Thoughts-Guide
Of the women here in Hawaii that I talk with, probably at least half of them will admit to scary thoughts. This is considerably more than general write-ups about “PPD” suggest.
Please know, these thoughts are a kind of “baby proofing” for potential dangers–what could possibly harm my baby–and not an indication of some Freudian “deep seated issue” or other babble-babble. The thoughts are obsesssions, as in obsessive compulsive disorder type of obsessions. Obsessions, we learned at the PSI conference in Texas (2008), occur “in context”. So a teen’s obsessions are often about their sexuality–are they gay, will they have a boy/girlfriend, will they ever have sex. A new mom’s obsessions are about potential harm–physical, illness, etc.–coming to her baby. “What if I dropped the baby over the railing?” “What if the knife I’m cutting up dinner with [harmed] my baby!” “What if the bath water is too hot?” “The bath water could [harm] my baby!”
These thoughts are pretty normal in the postpartum world. And they are treatable. Hospitalization is not necessary. Read Karen’s article.
It’s two days later and I think I’m almost caught up on sleep again. I think we moms have settled out again, feet firmly on the ground.
Going to any kind of training and hearing about “PPD” from experts–hearing about it from people other than your peer “PPD moms” or your therapist, I’ll say this for all of us, does have an impact. Even 15 years out, there’s always some little nugget that gets underneath and has you questioning your parenting skills or brings you back to the “did I do right for my baby?” thinking.
We had our usual Tuesday support group the next morning and processed the events from Monday. This was after a phone call or two to check in about possibly raw emotions. If there are moms outside the support group that had some emotional upheaval from the training, please follow the links and call PPD Support Hawaii or talk it out with a trustworthy friend.
Our wonderful volunteer Elaine is compiling the reviews, so I’ll get back to you on that.
Verbally though, people had many, many positive things to say. The energy felt that way as well. Thank you for being open to learning more and for your positive energy throughout the event.
Perinatal Mood Disorders
(aka Postpartum Depression)
—Awareness & Treatment
By Professionals, and Parents w/ Personal Experience
Monday, July 27, 2009
8:45am-1:30pm
PRESENTERS:
Tricia Wright, MD
Board Certified Obstetrician, Honolulu
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health, John A Burns School of Medicine;
Founder and Medical Director of the successful Perinatal Addiction Treatment of Hawaii
Rosemary Adam-Terem, PhD
Clinical Psychologist, Independent Practice, Honolulu
President, Hawaii Psychological Association
Adjunct clinical faculty member, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Psychology
Leina Kanana, LBSW
Supervisor of the Perinatal Support Services at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center
Diane Ashton, MSW
Founder of PPD Support Hawaii
Mothers’ Panel & case studies
Postpartum depression, or PPD, is a type of depression that affects women after they give birth. About 13% of women experience PPD in pregnancy, in the first year after childbirth, and it can develop any time up to a year after the baby is born. Postpartum depression has deleterious effects on a woman’s relationships, her functional status, and her ability to care for her infant. The reduction of PPD is a US priority healthcare need and a major public health concern. (MedEdPPD.org)
Although the term “PPD” is used frequently as a term relating to the mood changes a mother may have after having a baby, a more accurate term may be Perinatal Mood Disorders. This term allows for the great variability of symptoms which often include more than depression alone and acknowledges that mood disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD) can occur during pregnancy as well as after having a baby. The #1 complication of childbirth is depression ~ one in every eight pregnant and new mothers has a perinatal mood disorder. Unfortunately, many go needlessly undiagnosed and untreated.
Learn more about this very treatable condition and help spare families unnecessary pain.
Presented by PPD Support Hawaii
Register soon!—
Less than 25 seats left FULL
Where: the PATCH classroom at Dole Cannery
650 Iwilei Road, Suite 205
Honolulu, Hawaii96817
When: Monday, July 27, 8:45am -1:30pm
Who Should Attend: parents & family members, mental health therapists, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, home visitors, perinatal providers, pediatricians & OBGYNs.
————————————————————————–
Please see the About link for email, and provide the following information:
Name: _____________________________________
Phone: ______________ Email: _____________________
$10 donation requested, will be collected at the door. Snacks & drinks will be provided.
See you at the training on July 27th!
Yes, Hawaii, now you can “attend” a Postpartum Support International 2-day training–Perinatal Mood Disorders: Components of Care. This is a full 8 hours each day and the best training on the topic available.*
You can do this for the remarkable cost of only $75/person. There is one little hitch, and the reason for the quotation marks. The training is in Oklahoma… but available by webcast.
Postpartum Support International’s (PSI) 2-day training
“Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders: Components of Care”
Live in Oklahoma and via live interactive webcast, viewable from home or office computer, for only $75. PSI offers this same training as a two-day pre-conference session with its annual conference. This is that same training without the expenses of air travel, meals, car rental or accommodations.
http://oica.org/projects_and_issues/health/hm_hb/hmhb_invitation_2009.html
Wednesday May 20th, Thursday May 21st
The course is evidence-based and includes information concerning screening, assessment, and treatment of Perinatal Mood Disorders.
Featured Speakers include: Dr. Pec Indman and Meeka Centimano, LCSW.
The conference runs from 8:15 a.m.–4:30 p.m. CDT both days–that means…3:15 a.m -11:15 a.m. HST.
*I am a PSI volunteer.
The focus of this blog rally is to increase signatures to a growing list of supporters at Perinatal Pro and encourage phone calls to the Senate H.E.L.P. Committee in support of the MBSMA.
We are asking you to email Susan Dowd Stone at Perinatal Pro (susanstonelcsw@aol.com) as well as call every member of the Senate H.E.L.P. Committee to voice your support for the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHER’S Act. (When you email Susan, be sure to include your name, state, and any affiliations!)
The time is NOW. American mothers deserve to be heard. They deserve to not fear coming forward. Won’t you speak up for them?
For more information, check out Katherine Stone’s post on Postpartum Progress, HERE. She includes the Capitol operator’s phone number, at 202-224-3121. After you read her blog, call.
PLEASE add your name as a supporter!
The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act, sponsored by Senators Menendez and Representative Rush will:
* help provide support services to women with postpartum depression to postpartum psychosis
*help educate mothers and their families about these conditions
*support research into the causes, diagnoses and treatments for the whole range of prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions.
eta:7/17/09–this does not ask to mandate anything. Not even screening.
It PASSED THE HOUSE and now goes to the US Senate.
Read more about S. 324/H.R. 20 HERE
Add your name to the growing list, with mine:
Email Susan Stone, LCSW susanstonelcsw at aol.com with name, state, any credentials, and permission to be listed (Susan is the past president of Postpartum Support International).
The list of supporters from all 50 states will be delivered to Congress on Mother’s Day.
Please help reach the goal of 1000 signatures per state in support of the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act.
4/15/09 30 names from Hawaii now…
5/1/09 33 supporters from Hawaii now…
and has since 1/26/09. H.R. 20, NOW is the time to pass Postpartum Depression legislation also known as the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act
Thank you, Ms. Hirono!
