Almost 75 percent of women with postpartum depression also suffered from depression before pregnancy. And more than 50 percent of women who were depressed before pregnancy were depressed during pregnancy, Dietz said. Among women with depression, 75 percent had taken antidepressants — 77 percent before pregnancy, 67 percent during pregnancy and 82 percent after delivery, the researchers found. Katz, director of Yale University School of Medicine’s Prevention Research Center, said the finding that depression is very common before and after, as well as during, pregnancy is of clear importance. Either the challenges of pregnancy — from hormonal changes to psychological adjustment — induce depression, or the medical monitoring that occurs around the time of pregnancy identifies depression that otherwise would have gone undiagnosed. To learn more about depression and pregnancy, visit the March of Dimes . read more

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