After giving birth, about 30% to 80% of women will experience "baby blues," feeling mild depression, weepiness, irritability, fatigue and moodiness. These mood changes occur in response to the hormonal changes that follow childbirth and rapidly resolve within hours or days.

About 10% of women, though, will go through postpartum major depression (PMD), experiencing more severe, lasting symptoms. Good self-care and support from family and friends can help many women, although others will require treatment with medication and/or therapy.

Steps you can take to prevent postpartum depression include...read more

A study published in the January issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders suggests that vets with depression are at higher risk of commiting suicide during two critical periods: after discharge from a psychiatric hospital and after beginning treatment with an antidepressant.

Dr. Marcia Valenstein, a clinical psychiatrist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and her team collected data from 887,859 VA hospital patients being treated for depression between April 1999 and September 2004. They then calculated the suicide rate for several 12-week periods, such as the start of treatment with antidepressants, after treatment changes and upon discharge from a psychiatric hospital.

The researchers found that the first 12 weeks after treatment with an antidepressant is initiated is a high risk period, with 210 suicides per 100,000 person-years, but the risk returns to normal after this period.

The researchers further found that patients were at a very high risk of suicide immediately following release from a psychiatric hospital. The suicide rate during this period was 568 per 100,000 person-years and did not return to normal until a year later.

The highest suicide risk was found among veterans aged 61 to 80.

There are currently no recommendations for closely monitoring recently discharged patients, although one widely used protocol does suggest one visit within the first seven days after discharge, said Valenstein.

Valenstein suggests that the greatest impact on suicide would be obtained by prioritizing suicide prevention efforts to the period following psychiatric hospitalization; and, if resources allow, closer monitoring should be provided to patients during their first 12 weeks of treatment with an antidepressant.

Children who did poorly in the first grade were found to have negative self-perceptions in the sixth grade and depression symptoms in the seventh grade, according to a new study from University of Missouri researchers.

In the study, the researchers examined the behaviors of 474 boys and girls in the first grade and then re-examined the children as they moved into middle school. It was found that those students who had struggled with core subjects - such as reading and math - in the first grade exhibited negative self-beliefs and depression as they entered middle school.

"Often, children with poor academic skills believe they have less influence on important outcomes in their life." said study author Keith Herman, associate professor of education, school and counseling psychology in the MU College of Education. "Poor academic skills can influence how children view themselves as students and as social beings."

"Children's individual differences will always exist in basic academic skills," noted Herman, " so it is necessary to explore and emphasize other assets in students, especially those with lower academic skill relative to their peers." Herman suggests that teachers and parents should honor skills in other areas, such as interpersonal skills, non-core academic areas, athletics and music.

The study appears in the January 11 issue of Science Daily.

Although promising research has been done into potential markers for depression, there is not yet a blood test which can be used to definitively identify individuals who are suffering from depression. Instead, your doctor uses your reported symptoms, the signs he observes during your office visit, your medical history and your family's medical history to make his diagnosis.

When you first visit your physician, however, you may be given certain blood tests to rule out medical illnesses which may either cause depression or have similar symptoms.

The following are some routine blood tests that you might be given, along with the conditions that they can detect...read more