by Jeanette Mcdonough

Created on: May 26, 2008   Last Updated: May 28, 2008

Postpartum depression affects thousands of women yearly. Most cases are mild and temporary and are often referred to as the baby blues. Symptoms for these cases often last only a few weeks after the birth of their babies and there are few or no long-term lasting repercussions. For some women and their children, however, postpartum depression can be much worse and sadly, sometimes have tragic consequences. For women who experience the most severe form of depression, postpartum psychosis, reality blurs with fantasy and dangerous delusions can take a lethal turn (Sebastian, 2001).

In June of 2001, a young Texas mother killed 5 of her children by drowning them. Andrea Yates attorney argued that the 36 year old woman was insane and that postpartum depression had caused her to commit these atrocious acts of infanticide (Houston Chronicle, 2001). This case caused additional controversy when the National Organization for Women decided to champion Ms. Yates in her defense. Currently the United States' judicial system does not recognize postpartum depression as a legal defense, so in the Yates case insanity was used as her defense. According to Margaret G. Spinnelli, MD, the United States is the only industrialized nation that incarcerates postpartum psychotic women who commit infanticide (1998).

Spinnelli further contends that western medicine has been slow to acknowledge the potential severity of postpartum depression (1998). Further psychiatry has failed to make the system fully aware of the potential severity of postpartum depression for some women. There is a body of evidence that suggests in extreme cases of postpartum depression that results in psychosis, that symptoms can be so debilitating that some women cannot control their behavior during bouts of the affective disorder. Further, there may be a link between gonadal hormones and antepartum and postpartum depression.

Researchers have also implicated a correlation between monoamine neurotransmitters and postpartum depression. It is possible that hormone fluctuations may impact the chemicals in the brain related to normal neural transmission (Sebastian, 2001). In rare cases women who suffer with postpartum depression experience extreme anxiety, auditory hallucinations, obsessive concerns that harm will come to their baby, feelings of worthlessness and occasionally suicidal or homicidal urges.

There is also a significant likelihood that once a woman has experienced postpartum depression that future pregnancies will

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