Postpartum Progress

Top Hospitals in U.S. for Psychiatry

U.S. News & World Report has its Best Hospitals feature in this week's issue.  They also rank hospitals based on specialties, including Psychiatry.  I think it is important for women to know which hospitals in the U.S. excel in Psychiatry, given that we need to know where we can go for the best treatment.  I know some of them excel in the treatment of postpartum mood disorders, like Massachusetts General Hospital, New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, Emory University Hospital, NYU and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.  I'm going to look into the others to find out what reproductive psychiatry programs they may have and report back to you.  In the meantime, here is the list of the top 22 hospitals in the United States in the area of psychiatry, as reported in U.S. News & World Report.  Rankings were determined solely by reputation.

1.  Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

2.  Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

3.  McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA

4.  New York-Presbyterian Univ. Hosp. of Columbia and Cornell, New York, NY

5.  UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Los Angeles, CA

6.  Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Baltimore, MD

7.  Menninger Clinic, Houston, TX

8.  Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

9.  Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT

10.  Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, CA

11.  University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA

12.  Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA

13.  Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

14.  Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA

15.  Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis, MO

16.  NYU Medical Center, NY

17.  University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, CA

18.  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

19.  Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

20.  Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX

21.  Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT

22.  Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY

Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope: Wendy Davis

I would like to announce our Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope for May and June (drumroll please): Wendy Davis.  She is as deserving as one could possibly be to be recognized for all her many contributions to the women who suffer perinatal mood disorders.  In addition to maintaining a private practice as a therapist, she has been deeply, deeply involved as a volunteer for many years.  Wendy writes:

"I got a crash course in postpartum mood disorders when I fell into one after the birth of our first child in 1994.  I had no idea there was a name for what I was experiencing; the names I gave it at the time were 'failure' and 'mistake'.  I thought I had just found out that I never should have been a mother.  I couldn't believe that any good mother would feel such crushing dread and hopelessness.  I was sinking fast and isolating myself.  A dear friend convinced me to call a postpartum doula and after much resistance, I called her.  She listened to my quiet request for help with the dishes, and asked me the question that saved my life:  'Have you been depressed or anxious?'  It was enough to open the floodgates and I felt that I was confessing to her.  She came over the next day and sat with me for hours while I cried, leaving me with some excellent articles about PPD and recovery and a promise that she would be back the next day.

"As soon as I understood that I had postpartum depression and anxiety, I was astonished that I had never learned of it.  I had already been a therapist for 14 years and I had never had a class or workshop on the subject.  At first I was angry.  Then I got busy.  I was compelled to learn all I could and to talk to anyone who would listen about postpartum suffering and recovery.  My own experience led me to develop a mom-to-mom support network here in Portland, Oregon, called Baby Blues Connection.  It has been going strong for 12 years now and I am so grateful and proud of having been part of this resource.  I continue to serve as their clinical consultant and coordinate the volunteer training team.

"I also became a member of PSI, and then a support coordinator for Oregon in 1998.  I have seen this organization develop so much, and have become more and more involved.  In 2005, I agreed to be the Coordinator for the Support Coordinators around the world and then I joined the PSI board.  This has been an amazing organization to work with.  The volunteers are passionate, knowledgable and caring and the board members are extremely sensitive and hard-working.  Jane Honikman was a wonderful mentor to me.

"I know that every voice of truth can make change for the better, and that it doesn't take that much for women and their partners to feel heard, acknowledged and cared for.  I know that PSI's advocacy will make a difference in the lives of mothers, their partners and their children.  I remember how much it helped me to have people around who knew what I was going through, who encouraged me when I wanted to give up and who trusted in me.  I adore my son and my daughter (after whose birth I had no PPD) and I just wish that I had been able to see that I  was bonding with my son all along.

Wendy's volunteer work also includes writing magazine articles, as well as appearing on documentaries, radio shows and local news reports providing her expert opinion and commentary.  She is also a frequent public speaker, AND, she was pleased to be asked by the Oregon Department of Health & Human Services to write a page on perinatal mood disorders for a booklet given to all new moms in Oregon.

She is proud that she spoke up with honesty and heart, and that she is able to provide a picture of hope to others.  She is also very proud of the work she has done nurturing new volunteers, and being able to connect frightened moms and their families and friends with so many resources around the world.  She is a perfect example of the power of speaking up, of working together with people and asking for help.

Her biggest concern these days is that people have too much of a little information, and become afraid that PPD is always dangerous.  (Thanks in part, I think, to the sensationalization of TV news and the tendency for them to only discuss perinatal mood disorders when there is an infanticide).  She says this is part of what causes women to feel panicky and suicidal.  She wants people to know that these illnesses are always treatable.  She would ultimately like to see pregnancy and postpartum mood disorders discussed in 6th grade health class, and revisited in childbirth education classes and providers' offices.  She wants people to understand that symptoms of depression, anxiety, mania and psychosis are common, treatable and faultless.

"I want people to understand what my son understood when he was only 10.  He got on the phone with my friend who had just had a baby, and said to her in the most sweet and loving voice, 'If you are having any sad or bad feelings, that is okay.  And just remember, when you think you're not being a good mom, you usually are.'  I was very, very proud of him and of all the work we have done."

Wendy, you are a wonderful and clearly loving human being and we are lucky that you are one of us and have dedicated so much of yourself to our cause.  Congratulations!!

Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope: Mary Jo Codey

Announcing the Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope for March 2007 (drumroll please) ... Mary Jo Codey!!!!  If you haven't heard about the impact the former first lady of New Jersey has had on the issue of postpartum mood disorders, then you've missed a LOT!! 

Mary Jo Codey was first introduced to postpartum mood disorders 22 years ago after she experienced PPD with the birth of her son Kevin.  Prior to that, she had no idea that PPD even existed or that she might be at risk.  She also went through PPD again four years later with her second son, Christopher.  Even though she had all the signs of PPD, no one seemed to know what was wrong with her.  She checked herself into a mental institution for a month but found no help there.  Eventually she began to see a psychiatrist who did know about PPD and was able to help Mary Jo.  She began to experience scary, intrusive thoughts about hurting her son.  For months she worked with the psychiatrist tying different antidepressants, but the intrusive thoughts increased until she finally decided to "just end it all".  Fortunately, the psychiatrist had decided to try an MAO inhibitor as a last-ditch effort, and within a few weeks the intrusive thoughts began to decrease and finally disappear.  All in all, it took a year for Mary Jo to get better. 

She became angry, as so many of us do, that it took so long for her to get the help she needed, and that until then no one recognized the signs.  She realized that people needed to know and care about this disorder, and she didn't want anyone else to have to go through the self-blame and shame she experienced.  To that end, she became an advocate extraordinaire.  She has publicly shared her story with a wide variety of audiences, from health care and mental health professionals, to women's groups, PPD support groups, the general public and the media.  During her husband's tenure as governor, New Jersey created a comprehensive awareness campaign called "Recognizing Postpartum Depression: Speak Up When You're Down".  The campaign -- which made New Jersey the first state to commit resources to uninsured new mothers for PPD screenings and treatment -- features a 24/7 helpline and a bilingual website with valuable information and contacts for women and their families, as well as for medical professionals.  The campaign includes literature and radio and TV PSAs.  Mary Jo is very proud to be the spokesperson for that campaign, and was instrumental in its development.   

Of all the work she has done, she is most proud of New Jersey's Postpartum Depression Screening and Education law, which took effect in October 2006 and is an outgrowth of the efforts that began during her husband's administration.  Now every pregnant woman in New Jersey is educated about maternal mood disorders before giving birth; the mother of every baby born in the state will be screened for postpartum depression; and all licensed health care professionals who provide pre- and post-natal care will be educated about maternal depression.  There is a budget of $4.5 million for education and screening.

As for the future, most of all Mary Jo wishes for New Jersey's law to become national law.  The MOTHERs Act is actually based on the New Jersey law and is soon to be reintroduced in the Senate.  She says it's time for it to come out of committee and get passed!!

Her biggest concern is that too many women are slipping through the cracks and going untreated.  PPD is one of the most common complications of pregnancy, and progress is being made on raising awareness and increasing screening, she says.  But the latest study published by JAMA shows we need to do more.  There are lives at risk, she explains, and we owe it to women and their families to provide more education, screening, treatment and support.

Thank you, thank you Mary Jo Codey for your willingness to speak out, your courage, your honesty and most of all for your commitment to women like us!  You are definitely a Beacon of Hope!

Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope: Helena Bradford

Today, Postpartum Progress is launching a new monthly feature called the "Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope".  Each month, I will honor a worthy individual who invests his or her time and energy working to help women who are suffering or have suffered from postpartum mood disorders. The honoree will be someone who has been impacted by PPMD and has since chosen to let their light shine by educating and helping others.  And now (drumroll please) ... introducing the Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope for February 2007:

Helena Bradford

Helena started the Ruth Rhoden Craven Foundation for Postpartum Depression Awareness in South Carolina after the needless death of her daughter Ruth on December 5, 1999, just two and a half months after the birth of Ruth's first child.  After learning about the illness that caused Ruth to end her life at age 33, and learning that it was totally treatable, Helena and two friends (Elaine Earl and Mary Anna Mullinax) created the foundation in March 2000 because they didn't want other families to suffer the same pain they have.  As a result of their work, there are now four PPD support groups in the state of South Carolina.  (There were none when Helena's daughter died.)  They also host an annual 5k walk/run every year in Charleston.  Among all of her accomplishments, Helena is most proud of the individual lives that have been saved and the families that have been given back their mom, wife, sister or aunt as a direct result of Ruth's death.  She says that helps take a little of the sting away from the intense pain of losing Ruth.  As for the future, Helena would like to see routine screening of all pregnant women for perinatal depression conducted once per trimester by ob/gyns, in addition to national screening of new moms for PPD soon after delivery.  She would also like to see birthing classes include more in-depth information about these illnesses -- symptoms, risk factors and where to find help should PPD surface.

Congratulations Helena, and thank you so much for shining a light on postpartum mood disorders!!!!!!

If you would like to nominate someone to be a Postpartum Progress Beacon of Hope, email me at stonecallis@msn.  Provide me with the person's name, contact information, and why you think they should be chosen as a Beacon of Hope.  Thanks.