OLYMPIA — Thomas Soukakos knew something was very wrong after his wife gave birth to their son, but he didn't know what.

Therapists and doctors told them not to worry, that she just had a typical case of the "baby blues."

Carol Soukakos killed herself on Jan. 14, 2002, leaving behind an infant son and a husband desperate for answers.

Now Thomas Soukakos knows exactly what was wrong. His wife had severe postpartum depression, which affects at least one in 10 new mothers. He knows it's common, he knows it's treatable, and he's going to Olympia today to make sure legislators know about it, too.

"If there's a way to help one person, one little baby, to help one mother save her life, I will do that," said Soukakos, 47, a Seattle restaurant owner.

He planned to speak today at a public hearing for House Bill 1427, which asks for $25,000 to start an outreach campaign to educate people about postpartum depression. That amount won't pay for a flashy television campaign, but it's enough to create brochures and posters targeting new moms and their doctors.

"It's an issue that is often not taken as seriously as it should be," said Rep. Mary Helen Roberts, D-Edmonds, the first-term legislator who is sponsoring the bill. "An element of talk about postpartum depression is somewhat of a joke — the 'raging hormones.' But depression is very real."

E.B. MCGOVERN / AP Monica Lopez of Yakima is shown with her daughter, Sarah, 11. She was treated for postpartum depression after Sarah's birth.

Postpartum depression is much more serious and long-lasting. It strikes at least one in 10 and perhaps as many as one in eight new mothers. Marked by strong feelings of sadness, anxiety and despair, postpartum depression interferes with a mother's ability to bond with her baby and can lead to neglect, abuse or suicide in the most extreme cases.

It's not the same as postpartum psychosis, which affects less than 1 percent of new mothers.

Even though it's common and very treatable, many women don't know about postpartum depression and are afraid to seek help. The stigma of mental illness hits doubly hard for women who are struggling with sadness at a time when everyone expects them to be thrilled with their baby.

"The stereotype is of the overwhelmingly happy new mother, and sometimes that's not how women feel," Roberts said. Roberts remembers the days after her twins were born as difficult and at times overwhelming.

"The more we talk about the reality of things in our lives, the more we can address the problems," Roberts said.

Children's advocates hope for an outreach campaign modeled on the state's Shaken Baby Prevention Project. With about $25,000 a year in state money, plus federal grants and matching private funds, the Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect distributes posters and about 150,000 brochures a year warning parents about the dangers of shaking a baby.

Roberts' bill will likely get folded into the budget process, said Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, chairwoman of the House Health Care Committee that scheduled the hearing. She said she's hopeful legislators will support it.

Knowing more about postpartum depression could have helped Monica Lopez of Yakima. She remembers literally backing away from her daughter in a panic, feeling as though she didn't want anything to do with the baby.

Her story ended happily: She talked to her husband and they called her doctor, who saw Lopez the same afternoon. She went on anti-depression medication and started feeling normal again a few days later.

Without that doctor, "I would have been lost," said Lopez, now 42 and the mother of three daughters.

"I was one of the fortunate ones," she said. "It's just a terrible, terrible feeling. Women need to know."