February 2007
		Dear Colleague, "On February 23, 2001, Melanie Blocker-Stokes, a Chicago, IL, native and successful pharmaceutical sales manager, wife, and mother, gave birth to a daughter. After the birth of her daughter, Mrs. Blocker-Stokes developed a devastating mood disorder known as postpartum psychosis. She was admitted to Chicago-area hospitals 3 times, each time for 7 to 10 days. Despite medical assistance and the support of her family and friends, Mrs. Blocker-Stokes lost her battle with postpartum psychosis and jumped from a 12-story window ledge to her death on June 11, 2001." This might sound like old news, but this dangerous predator, postpartum depression, is still roaming free. After Melanie's death, her mother Carol began a PPD awareness campaign -- a crusade. She has organized marches, appeared in the media, and initiated legislation. The Melanie Stokes Postpartum Depression and Research and Care Act was initiated on June 28, 2001, about 1 month after Melanie’s death. This Act has 2 major components: 1. To provide for research on, and 2. Provide services to individuals with postpartum depression and psychosis. The Act has not yet passed through all of the official hurdles to become legislation. On January 4, 2007, Congressman Bobby Rush reintroduced the Melanie Stokes Act to the 110th Congress as H.R. 20. Let’s support it! If you haven’t already written to your Congressman, please do so. Finding your Congressman is as easy as clicking here. MedEdPPD.org was launched in the spirit of creating PPD awareness and to foster the education of healthcare providers. Thank you for making the launch an outstanding success! We have listened to your suggestions and implemented an "Add a Provider" link to the site. Once a user has registered, they will be able to add themselves as a provider. Click here to register. Beginning on March 1, 2007, we will be launching a new series of teleconferences called "First Thursday." On the first Thursday of each month we will have a different expert in the field of PPD giving a live telecasted presentation and listeners will be able to email or call in at the that time with questions for the speaker. Kicking off the series will be M. Cynthia Logsdon, DNS, ARNP discussing the topic, "Screening postpartum adolescents for postpartum depression." We hope that you will be able to tune in, as well as participate in the question and answer portion of the program! Click here to register for First Thursday Conference at no cost. MedEdPPD.org appreciates all questions, comments, and suggestions for content. Please contact us at support@medispin.com. Spread the word! Click here to Tell A Colleague about this resource.

MedicalUpdates
Platelet serotonin levels support depression scores for women with postpartum depression.
Maurer-Spurej E, Pittendreigh C, Misri S.
J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2007 Jan;32(1):23-29.
This study examined whether a new measurement for platelet serotonin could aid in the diagnosis of postpartum depression and support the results from questionnaires.

Postpartum fatigue in the active-duty military woman.
Rychnovsky JD.
J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2007 Jan-Feb;36(1):38-46.
Women were found to be moderately fatigued across time, with no change in fatigue levels from 2 to 6 weeks after delivery. All variables correlated with fatigue during hospitalization and at 2 weeks after delivery, and depression, anxiety, maternal sleep, and functional status correlated with fatigue at 6 weeks after delivery.

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InTheNews
New Campaign Targets Hispanic Women With Postpartum Depression
Channel3000.com, January 19, 2007
A first of its kind public health campaign targeting Hispanic women suffering from postpartum depression kicks off on Monday in Dane County.

Counseling can prevent postpartum depression
Cincinnati.com The Enquirer, January 19, 2007
A persuasive study published by a group at Brown University showed that preventive counseling reduced the risk of postpartum depression from 20 percent to 4 percent within three months of delivery.

Dads also suffer postpartum depression
The Arizona Republic, January 16, 2007
Postpartum depression has been recognized for more than a century as a problem affecting new mothers in the weeks and months after the birth of a child. Now, doctors and researchers are finding that fathers, too, can suffer that same stress and sadness.

Raising postpartum depression awareness
NorthJersey.com, January 16, 2007
Susan Stone, president of Postpartum Support International, is traveling around the country, marshaling support for legislation that would mandate screening to detect postpartum depression and promoting education, among other things.

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