Saturday, July 16, 2011

Postpartum Depresssion



In my Family Medical Practice, when I see people with depression, anxiety, or postpartum depression, there is generally a positive family history.  In actual fact, when there is no family history of depression or anxiety, I usually look for a physical cause to explain their symptoms.

In order to manage postpartum depression effectively,  it is so important to intervene at a number of levels.

1 Prepregnancy counselling for women who wish to start a family, particularly those with a family history of depression and anxiety or a personal history of depression and anxiety.

2 Parenting support and skill training eg Positive Parenting Program, 123Magic or Circle of Security parenting training program.  In Australia, parenting skill counselling is one of the accepted form of counselling approaches for depressed mothers or fathers under the Medicare program.

3 Helping to educate parents on how to raise more emotional intelligent or resilient children.  We will focus on this as well as this blog evolves.

4 Relationship skill training as relationship conflict is one of the most common trigger for stress and anxiety.

5 Build a good family and social support. We are so independent these days and often, we do forget to invest our time and energy in developing a good social and family support.

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