Tools for Mom

There are many things as a Mother or Soon to be Mother that you can do and tools you can use to help alleviate or possibly prevent maternal mental health disorders.  This section will provide you with some of these tools.

SELF ASSESSMENT - Could This Be You?

Overwhelmed? Anxious? Guilty? Irritable? Sad? Exhausted but sleepless? Miserable? Hopeless? If these describe your feelings, you may be concerned about postpartum depression or other maternal mental health issues.
 

The EPDS is a 10-question self administered screening tool developed by John Cox and Jeni Holden and used worldwide that helps to recognize women who might be suffering from postpartum depression.

INFORMATIVE WEBSITES​ 

For additional information about maternal mental health, the following websites may be useful to you.  

Postpartum Support International

Postpartum Support International is a leading organization in maternal mental health.  It provides direct peer support to families, trains professionals and provides a bridge to  connect them.
 

MedEdPPD
MedEdPPD is a website developed with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to provide education about postpartum depression.
 

Postpartum Progress
Postpartum Progress is a national non-profit organization. Their blog raises awareness, fights stigma and provides peer support and programming to women with maternal mental illness.
 

JennysLight
Jenny’s Light is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve and save lives by increasing awareness of all perinatal mood disorders including postpartum depression.

Take the Screening:

Edinburgh  Postnatal  Depression  Scale

1 Source: Cox, J.L., Holden, J.M., and Sagovsky, R. 1987. Detection of postnatal depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.
British Journal of Psychiatry 150:782-786 .

2 Source: K. L. Wisner, B. L. Parry, C. M. Piontek, Postpartum Depression N Engl J Med vol. 347, No 3, July 18, 2002, 194-199

Users may reproduce the scale without further permission providing they respect copyright by quoting the names of the authors, the title and the source of the paper in all reproduced copies.