Perinatal Depression Assessment

Perinatal Depression Assessment: Do you or your loved one suffer from Regular Depression or Perinatal Depression? If you are not sure, use this assessment to help you determine what type of depression you or a loved one suffer from. If you or your loved one is pregnant or recently had a child, ask yourself or your loved one the following questions:

Do you experience extreme feelings? Such as sadness? Inappropriately guilty? High anxiety? Depression that seems beyond what the situation might call for? Do you feel hopeless? Confused?
Are these extreme feelings something that you have felt before or does this feel different to you?
Do you typically struggle with low self-esteem? Or is the daunting task of motherhood raising self-esteem issue for you?
Do you feel a sense of inadequacy? Have you always felt this way?
Have you experienced a loss of appetite?
Are you physically agitated?
Do you have less energy than normal?
Do you experience an inability to make decisions?
Are you having suicidal thoughts?
Are you having homicidal thoughts?

Scoring:

If you answered yes to at least five of the questions, then you, or your loved one are likely suffering from a perinatal (during and after pregnancy) mood disorder and would benefit from an evaluation by a professional.
If you answered yes to having suicidal or homicidal thoughts, then you should seek immediate assistance. Contact the caregiver who delivered your baby and ask for help. If she/he is not available, go to closest emergency room and ask for a psychiatric evaluation.

Remember:

Women who have a history of depression, or are undergoing stressful life events are at a higher risk for experiencing a perinatal mood disorder.
Just because women in all normal pregnancies experience exhaustion, appetite changes, poor sleep, which is similar to typical signs of depression, does not mean you are not depressed. Depression is real.

More On Depression

Depression is a common problem during and after pregnancy. Pregnancy is a life altering stage in life, both physically and mentally. Often depression is not recognized or treated because ‘healthy’ pregnancy cause women to experience similar symptoms: body weight changes, sleep disturbances (peeing throughout the night, crying babies who need food), exhaustion (your body is working double time while pregnant and then after the baby is born, you are catering to a child eats and sleeps in 2-3 hour increments.) Women who simply feel like they have the baby blues may benefit from the same resources as women who have postpartum depression. Consider joining a baby blues support group a postpartum depression support group or enrolling in some Mommy and Me classes.

To reduce mom’s experience of depression, we strongly encourage her friends and family to focus all of their energy on caring for “mom.” By catering to mom’s every needs, she is more able to focus on herself and caregiving for baby. What this looks like:

Food shopping for mom
Preparing meals for mom
Doing all the dishes for mom
Cleaning the house for mom
Washing mom and baby’s clothes
Screening phone calls for mom
Caring for mom’s other children
Talking with mom about her feelings and needs
Changing baby’s diaper – so that mom only needs to feed baby
Asking mom if she wants you to hold baby so that she can take a shower
Doing all manual labor for mom
Creating the room for mom to take mini-naps when her baby does

In summary: new mothers benefit tremendously when all of your attention is on mom so that she can focus all of her energy on caring for baby. Focusing your energy on mom may at first seem ironic because it may seem like it is the baby that needs the most help. However, in this scenario new mom's need all of your support as they embark on this new journey of motherhood. Learning to care for another is challenging. Your only job is caring for her so that she can care for her child. If mom is feeling struggling, she may need you to be with her 24/7 so that she is getting the support that she needs. If mom is suicidal or homicidal your job is to involve a professional so that mom and baby can get the help they need.

You can self schedule an in-person or virtual therapy session at the Center for Growth by calling (215) 922- LOVE (5683) x 100.

Our Guarantee: If after your first session you are not sold that you are working with the right therapist, do not hesitate to call our intake line at 215 922 5683 x 100 or Alex at (267) 324-9564 and ask to be rescheduled with another therapist. The choice of how you want to proceed is yours. Our only goal is to support you in becoming the best you possible.

For your convenience, we have brick and mortar offices and work with clients virtually in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Physical Therapy Office Locations:

Ocean City Therapy Office 360 West Ave, Floor 1, Ocean City, NJ 08226
Mechanicsville Therapy Office 9044 Mann Drive, Mechanicsville Virginia, 23116
Society Hill Therapy Office 233 S. 6th Street, C-33, Philadelphia PA 19106
Art Museum / Fairmount Therapy Office 2401 Pennsylvania Ave, Suite 1a2, Philadelphia PA 19130
Providence Therapy Office 173 Waterman St. Providence, RI 02906
Fayetteville Therapy Office 101 Devant Street #606, Fayetteville GA 30214
Santa Fe Therapy Office, 2204 B Brothers Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87505
Telemedicine Therapy Locations: We have therapists who are licensed to work in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia and Pennsylvania