BOSTON, July 5 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say pediatricians play a vital role in making sure that women with postpartum depression get the help they need.
A study published in this month's issue of the journal Pediatrics says asking whether a mother has lost interest and pleasure in doing things lately -- and whether she has been feeling down -- can quickly start the process of getting help for the estimated 10 percent of mothers who are depressed, the Boston Globe reported.
Researchers reported last month that the children of very depressed parents remain about three times as likely as their peers to suffer from depression, anxiety or addiction. A major study this spring found that when mothers' depression abated, their children showed improvement in their own psychiatric symptoms within three months.
Dr. Myrna Weissman, the Columbia University psychiatry professor who oversaw the earlier studies, told the newspaper the research is so convincing it practically "screams" for pediatricians to get involved in treating parents' depression.
