New Jersey law is a first for moms

NEW YORK — The attention goes to celebrity patients, such as Brooke Shields, or to grim cases in which mothers kill their children. But beyond the headlines about postpartum depression, states are making strides in raising awareness of the disorder and screening more mothers for it.

The boldest move has come in New Jersey, where a first-of-its-kind law was signed this month requiring doctors to educate expectant mothers and their families about postpartum depression and to screen new moms for the condition.

"What New Jersey has done is phenomenal. It's what we want to have in every state in the union," said Cheryl Hill, president of the Family Mental Health Institute.

Several other states have started awareness campaigns, including TV and radio spots in New York. On May 12, advocates for more ambitious federal action will lobby on Capitol Hill, including Edrienne Carpenter of Texas, who was battling postpartum depression when she won the 2004 Mrs. United States beauty pageant.

"I learned the hard way that there is a need for more educational awareness, emotional and physical support, and medical resources to be at the fingertips of women," Carpenter said. "In today's news, we've heard of too many cases that have ended in tragedy."

Among recent criminal cases in which postpartum depression was cited as a possible factor were the 2001 drowning of five children in Texas by Andrea Yates, another Texas case in which a mother severed her baby's arms, and the drowning of three sons by a Norfolk, Va., mother.

Hill, who suffered from depression after her now-grown children were born, said publicity about such cases has mixed consequences. "People are starting to understand the disease a little bit more; that's been helpful," she said. "But it hurts women who suffer from postpartum depression. They're afraid of coming forward. They don't want to be labeled as crazy."

Doctors and researchers said most new mothers experience occasional sadness and anxiety, known as the "baby blues," that do not require treatment. Roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of new mothers have postpartum depression, a more serious condition, and that, experts say, should be treated through therapy, group support or medication.

In the past nine months, New Jersey's Health Department has trained more than 4,500 doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers to provide screening, referrals and treatment for postpartum depression.

Celeste Andriot Wood, assistant commissioner for family health services, said that New Jersey has roughly 115,000 births a year and that about 10 percent of new mothers are expected to require intervention for postpartum depression.