Katrina Witt reviews a new UK study, which finds that women who ended their own lives during the perinatal period were significantly more likely to have a recent onset of depression, and were less likely to be receiving active treatment, and particularly medication, at their time of their death.
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Jane Iles appraises a 20-year prospective cohort study of postnatal depression, which follows women from adolescence, to young adulthood and on to motherhood. The research presents some compelling data about the risk of perinatal mental health difficulties in new mothers.
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Paul Ramchandani and Ellen Grimas report on the findings of a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of modifiable partner factors associated with perinatal depression and anxiety.
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Meg Fluharty examines the findings of a recent study, which looks at the risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) when mothers take antidepressants during pregnancy.
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Susie Johnson summarises a systematic review that explores the relationship between sleep disruption and postpartum mental illness, which reports a link between self-reported poor sleep during and after pregnancy and the development of postpartum depression.
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Sarah McDonald appraises a systematic review of CBT for treating and preventing perinatal depression. The meta-analysis finds that, when compared to control conditions, CBT resulted in significant reductions in depressive symptoms in both treatment and prevention studies.
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A recent report estimated the societal cost of perinatal mental health problems to be £8 billion, but should we believe it? Chris Sampson advises caution.
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Lucy Simons reports on a meta-ethnography that explores what facilitates peer support for perinatal mental illness. Her key finding from appraising the review is that women who experience perinatal mental illness need support from the right sort of peer (i.e. women who have had mental distress in the context of motherhood) to make the relationship beneficial and to aid recovery.
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Clinical Psychologist Sarah McDonald writes her debut blog on a recent cohort study of breastfeeding and postpartum depression, which concludes that the effect of breastfeeding on maternal depression is extremely heterogeneous.
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Nikki Newhouse summarises a recent US health technology assessment of antidepressants for depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period, which concludes that the evidence remains inconclusive about the benefits and harms of antidepressants for depression in pregnancy.
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