04
Nov
Perinatal Mental Health Screening Helps Protect Against Postpartum Depression
As many as 13% of women, experience fluctuations in mood, increased anxiety, and irascible behaviors after having a baby, according to an October 2010 report from the Journal of The American Medical Association.
Postpartum depression is a clinical depression that most often affects women after childbirth. Symptoms, ultimately depending on the severity of the affliction, range from sadness and isolation, to extreme and overwhelming care for the newborn’s well-being, also according an October 2010 report from the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Scott MacGregor, MD, selected as a Chicago Top-Rated Doctor by the TopTierMD as a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist, is an advocate of The Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act.
This policy, institutionalized by the State of Illinois in 2008 pertaining to postpartum depression, implements a triple screening program. The women are assessed for depression during their first prenatal visit, at the beginning of their third trimester, and six weeks after giving birth.
“We do this because it’s the right thing to do and it’s good patient care,” says Dr. MacGregor.
Perinatal mental health screenings, prior to 2008, were not mandated by hospitals. However, the new postpartum depression policy emphasizes an approach that more closely monitors the women’s psychological state throughout their pregnancy.
Dr. MacGregor, affiliated with North Shore University Health System, a leading proponent of perinatal mental health care, says “Our program has become the model program for the State of Illinois.”
The North Shore University Health System and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Service, among several other organizations, are collaborating to help mothers with postnatal depression all across Illinois.
However, ensuring stability and success for the postpartum depression treatment program’s future is a constant effort. Currently, the State of Illinois’ main obstacle hindering optimal exposure of this law is funding.
TopTierMD selected Dr. Scott MacGregor as an expert in Maternal Fetal Medicine. He currently is a practicing physician with North Shore University Health System as well as a clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
