Phone support can help ease postpartum depression

In the study, women with postpartum depression received telephone counseling from other women who had previously suffered from the disorder and recovered. “Postpartum depression is a problem for one in seven women, and many of them don’t get help because there’s a stigma and they don’t have time and it’s expensive,” said study leader Dr. Nicole Letourneau, a professor and research chair in parent-infant mental health at the University of Calgary. “Training peer counselors to do phone counseling is an effective, low-cost and non-stigmatizing way for new moms to get the help they need.” Particularly for first-time mothers, postpartum depression can be hard to distinguish from the stress and fatigue that come with caring for a new infant around the clock, Letourneau said.



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