Postpartum Progress

Jenny's Light Foundation Launches New Website

Jenny's Light, the foundation created in memory of the loss of Jennifer Gibbs Bankston and her newborn baby Graham late last year to postpartum depression, has relaunched its website with more resources, including information on suicide support and postpartum support.  The organization will focus on providing postpartum support and education in the states of Alabama, California, Louisiana and Minnesota.   

More Deaths Reinforce Need for Screenings

Last week in Milwaukee, Alisa Lorraine Evans, 38, attempted to drown her 2-week-old twin boys in the bathtub, killing one and leaving the other hospitalized.  According to WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee, "Issues of postpartum mental illness will figure significantly in the case ... Authorities said the woman had lost an adult son in a Texas shooting incident last fall, and she told police she only wanted the babies to go to heaven."

Of course I won't go into any details here, but the WTMJ story states:

"Joyce Smith told investigators her daughter was depressed and had said Jan. 10 she didn't want to live anymore and talked about 'hurting or killing herself.' She had been living in Milwaukee about six months and was separated from her husband in Waco, Smith said. Evans, who was a licensed vocational nurse, told police she wanted a permanent solution to her problems and 'only wanted the children to go to heaven'..."

Additionally, last Sunday a mother in Sacramento apparently drowned her 8-day-old daugther.  Kristina Feulling of Granite Bay faces murder charges.  According to News10 in Sacramento, "Kristina Fuelling's psychological condition was being investigated late Sunday and there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the child's death."
Fuelling's family and friends issued the following statement:

Kristina is known as a loving and caring person and we have only witnessed Kristina showing affection and care towards her baby. Kristina stopped work months ago only to take care of her pregnancy and baby. She has called the doctor numerous times for every little concern since the baby was born. Her life has been completely dedicated to caring for her child. It seems illogical that such a loving mother would harm her baby and we hope officials will find the same to be true. It does not seem real that baby Faith is not alive and with us. Our prayer and support are united for Kristina.

More women who have slipped through the cracks.  We need postpartum mood disorder screenings in the hospital and at the 6-week postpartum checkup.  Period.

Family of Young Mother in SC Believes Daughter Charged With Murder Has PPD

Here is a link to a story from NBC-affiliate WYFF in South Carolina about a young mother accused of killing her child.  Her family believes she was suffering from PPD.

Let me say something about these suicide/infanticide stories I share with you:

1)  These stories aren't meant to scare you, but they are reality though thankfully rare.  From the beginning, I made a commitment that this blog would never gloss over the true experiences of people with postpartum mood disorders -- I try to be as up front and honest as can be, because so many of you say they wish they had been told everything before they went through it.  Rather than freak you out, such stories should encourage those out there who haven't sought treatment to do so for your own health and the health of your families.

2)  Also, when I share these stories, it doesn't mean I am confirming that the cause was postpartum depression.  As I'm sure you well know, some people use the postpartum depression defense who don't deserve to use it.  I have no idea whether the person in this particular story was or was not in fact suffering from PPD. 

Chicago Tribune Columnist Asks Why Mother Remains in Prison

The following commentary on Debra Gindorf appeared on December 23 in Eric Zorn's blog on the Chicago Tribune online edition:

"Gutlessness leaves governor open to scorn

When people ask me why I have such a cranky attitude about Gov. Rod Blagojevich, I'm happy to tell them the story of Debra Gindorf.

Gindorf had a hearing in front of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board in early 2003. The board was clearly sympathetic to her lawyers' contention that she was in the grips of post-partum psychosis in 1985 when she killed her 3-month-old baby and 23-month-old toddler before trying to kill herself and that she was sentenced to life in prison before this condition was properly understood.

Not even the Lake County state's attorney's office, which prosecuted Gindorf, objected to her release.That was more than 1,700 days ago. Gindorf, 43, is still at Dwight Correctional Center with a bum heart and a broken spirit, according to her assistant state appellate defender Kathleen Hamill.

Not only has Blagojevich not had the guts to release this poor woman and explain to skeptics why it's the right and compassionate thing to do, he hasn't even had the guts NOT to release her -- to deny her petition for commutation.

Instead, it sits somewhere in the stack of 1,445 other pending parole and pardon requests on the desk of our state's invertebrate hockey-fan-in-chief.

Remember that next time you hear him preen about women's health issues, about his courage and about how other lawmakers need to buckle down and get to work."

Thank you, Eric Zorn.

Informative First Thursday Teleconferences Offered By MedEdPPD

I think I've written about this before -- at least I hope I have -- but Dr. Ruta Nonacs was kind enough to remind me of the First Thursday teleconferences held by MedEdPPD.  Here's a link to her post on A Deeper Shade of Blue about these informative sessions.  The next one is Thursday, February 7, and will feature Dr. Margaret Spinelli of Columbia University discussing postpartum psychosis and infanticide.

One Mother Sentenced to Prison, Another Found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity

This week, according to the Springfield [Ohio] News-Sun, " ... a west-central Ohio mother who attempted to drown her infant daughter in a bathtub has been sentenced to seven years in prison.  Twenty-one-year-old Heather Nicole Dean, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to attempted murder this week in Clark County Common Pleas Court.  Prosecutors say Dean was suffering from postpartum depression when she attempted to kill her baby last spring by holding her under running water in the bathtub.  Court records show Dean called 911 after the drowning attempt and then performed CPR on the baby.  The child made a full recovery."

Meanwhile, in a nearby state, another mother this week was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of her two children.  According to the Lancaster [Pennsylvania] New Era, "A Mount Joy woman who killed her two young sons in 2004 has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.  Meghan Lippiatt, 32, smiled when Judge James P. Cullen announced his verdict ... The verdict means Lippiatt avoids prison and the potential for the death penalty and will instead be treated at a psychiatric facility to be determined later ... Lippiatt killed her two children, 4-month-old Myles and 2-year-old Silas, on April 18, 2004 ... Her defense team argued successfully that she was suffering from schizoaffective disorder and didn't know the difference between right and wrong when she killed the children."  The paper stated in a previous article that " ... while living in England in early 2004, Lippiatt was diagnosed with psychosis and postnatal depression after telling doctors she was hearing voices telling her to harm her children."

Houston Chronicle Editorial on PPMD

Here's a link to the great editorial written by the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle about the recent infanticide/suicide in Texas.  This is an awful, awful tragedy, of course.  I'm glad the Chronicle commented on the work that needs to be done to help these women.

A Roundup of Major Stories & PPMD News

You should see my inbox these days!  I can't keep up!  There is a LOT going on.  First things first, below is a current list of support groups.  Please check it out if you're looking for one in your area.

Download ppd_support_groups_52207.doc

This is a link to a good article that just came out of the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association this week.  No real new news, but it's nice to see the recognition of perinatal mood disorders as a spectrum disorder, and the fact that onset can occur anytime throughout the first year postpartum. 

This is a link to a new book called "Crazy In America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill".  It sounds like it could be good, and similar to Pete Earley's book called "Crazy", which I absolutely loved. 

I've added another beautiful survivor mom to our Surviving & Thriving Mothers' Photo Album.  Thanks Shannon for sending me the picture. 

Here's a link to a great editorial from Newsday by Sandra Wolkoff.   One highlight that reminds us we just don't get over this in a day:

"Frequently, women convince themselves that any slight improvement is a sign that recovery is around the corner. When the black clouds of despair return hours or days later, or another medication seems to prove ineffective, they feel like failures."

Here's a link to a recent story that appeared on the NBC affiliate in San Diego about the Michael Spangler, husband of Annie who committed suicide three years ago after suffering from postpartum depression.  I'm so sorry for his and his little boy's loss, especially when we all know these tragedies are completely unnecessary.

Here's a link to a story from last week in Chicago about Tonya Vasilev, who was found mentally insane for the killing of her two children.  She had suffered depression since childhood, and had been diagnosed with postpartum depression.  The judge said he felt comfortable finding her insane because of the expert medical testimony, thus Tonya will now receive lifelong commitment to a mental health facility rather than prison or the death penalty.  (Trust me, this doesn't mean I'm comfortable with those sweet children being killed.  I can think of nothing more awful and tragic.  But we need to work harder to treat and protect the mentally ill so that things like this don't happen.)

Margaret Trudeau, the ex-wife of the late prime minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau, spoke up about mental health recently and the importance of mental health check-ups to all Canadians.  Trudeau herself suffered from postpartum depression.  Here is a link to the story.

Parnham Receives Award for His Work

George Parnham, the lawyer who represented postpartum psychosis sufferer Andrea Yates, recently received the Jefferson Award from KPRC-TV in Houston.  The award, which is part of a national program of the American Institute for Public Service, honors unsung heroes and their personal contributions to public and community service.  Parnham was recognized for all the awareness he has brought to the issue of postpartum mood disorders and his work on behalf of the Yates Children Memorial Fund and other related organizations.

According to KPRC-TV, two bills sit before the Texas Legislature this year -- one seeking better insurance coverage for those with postpartum depression and another seeking a change to the insanity plea that would cover those with postpartum depression.

San Diego Mother Gets Five Years Probation

Here's a link to an article from the San Diego Union-Tribune about a mother with postpartum depression who attempted infanticide but was (thankfully!) unsuccessful.  These types of stories are tough to read, but they help reinforce the importance of treatment.

Another Great Piece from MomSquawk about PPD

The following is a great post called "The Shame of Postpartum Depression" written by Momma Steph over at MomSquawk:

According to an article in Psychiatric Times, postpartum depression and psychosis are often missed by practitioners.  Around 10-15% of new mothers will be diagnosed with postpartum depression (not to be confused with “baby blues”, which affects around 80%), and less than 1% of new mothers reportedly experience postpartum psychosis.

But postpartum depression may be more prevalent than thought, because women are reluctant to reveal the symptoms, Dr. [Phillip J.] Resnick said. Fearing of falling short of society’s ideal of motherhood, women may hold back from telling their husbands. And many fear that if they tell a doctor or social worker about their depression, their baby might be taken away, he said.

Gee… women who are blindsided by postpartum mental disorders aren’t likely to fill anyone in voluntarily?  YA THINK?!  “You know, honey, I can’t seem to stop obsessing about putting the baby in the dishwasher.  Isn’t that odd?  I guess we should get takeout.  Why are you looking at me like that?”

I wonder if other undiagnosed women got hit with PPD as I did - in such a bizarre and scary fashion that it didn’t even occur to me that I’d been hit.  I thought women with PPD hated their babies, or cried all the time, or didn’t feel like leaving the house.  I loved my baby fiercely, didn’t cry much at all, and didn’t at all shy away from leaving the house - many evenings I headed down the road, clutching the baby, making a beeline for my husband’s office, if only to intercept him partway through his walk home and hand off our spawn so that I’d know he was safe.  Safe from the dishwasher.

Had I known that intrusive thoughts are a fairly common symptom of PPD, I probably would have told someone.  And I’m certain that the obsessions would have been much less severe, more easily laughed off and dismissed.  As it was, I just thought I was going crazy, and that admitting it would make it worse, and might cost me my child.  So I decided to just use all my mental strength to keep it together.  And I made a pact with myself that if I ever found myself in real danger of harming the baby, I’d kill myself first, as a pre-emptive move.

Yes, the unclouded bliss of new motherhood, indeed!

Some facts on infanticide, from the article:

About 40% of mothers with postpartum depression have thoughts about killing their child, Dr. Resnick said. And for depressed mothers of “colicky” babies-babies not soothed even when fed, changed, and held-that figure climbs to 70%, he said.

Of the mothers whose depression develops into psychosis, as it did with Yates, about 4% will harm their children if the psychosis is not treated, Dr. Resnick said.

This is why education and screening are so important.  I’m a well-read person, I pored over all the pregnancy books I could get my hands on, but nothing prepared me to recognize PPD.  For me, bad thoughts = Andrea Yates.  My only available coping mechanism (so I believed) was denial.

I’m praying that the MOTHERS Act gets out of committee and onto the floor of Congress.  Its stated purpose:

To ensure that new mothers and their families are educated about postpartum depression, screened for symptoms, and provided with essential services, and to increase research at the National Institutes of Health on postpartum depression.

I had great healthcare, by all obvious standards, and I was in the dark about the signs of postpartum depression.  How many other women are uninformed?  How many mothers and babies are at risk?

If and when the legislation makes its way onto the floor, we should be ready for idiotic hissy fits like this: “PPD is made up by whiney mothers and screening is a grand conspiracy by the patriarchy” essay (link courtesy of Katherine at Postpartum Progress).   Debate over the proposed law is one thing.  But denying the existence of PPD, and further shaming women who may be suffering from it by calling them weak, is unconscionable.

More Sad News & Something You Can Do About It

More sad news to share.  But first, let me explain something.  I don't share this news with you to make you feel bad or scare you when it comes to your own situation.  If you're reading this blog, it means you're doing something to get yourself better.  You're reaching out to learn more, and hopefully you're getting treated.  At minimum, I'll be here for you if you need me.  I share sad news because it's extremely important that everyone be informed about the most dire consequences of our illness.  This is real life, and people need to be confronted with it so that they might be urged on to act, and act quickly. 

PLEASE write your senators and congressmen and women and tell them to pass the MOTHERS Act.  I know it seems futile - I myself had never done it until now.  But we've got to do something.  Click here and look on the left side of the screen where you can enter your zip code.  Feel free to print out my story from the other day and this one so that you have proof to share that more people could get harmed if something isn't done.

Here's the news, from yesterday's Fayetteville Observer (NC): 

"By the time detectives got to the two-story brick home in northern Cumberland County on Tuesday, Faye Johnson Vick and her two children had likely been dead for several days.

Detectives found their bodies inside Faye Vick’s vehicle, which was parked in the two-car garage and had run out of gas.

On Wednesday, investigators said Faye Vick killed herself and her children, 2-year-old Jason Vick and 3-month-old Madison Vick. A state Medical Examiner’s Office report said the three died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

No one can be sure what went through Vick’s mind before she climbed inside the vehicle with her two children and turned on the engine.

Debbie Tanna, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, said Faye Vick, who was 39, had a history of postpartum depression ..."