ostpartum Depression in Bipolar Disorder

filed under Bipolar Disorder Research Study

Postpartum depression is a disorder that 1 in 10 mothers will have to deal with during or
after pregnancy. Having a prior history of depression increases this risk, whether it be
unipolar depression, or bipolar depression. Those with bipolar disorder appear to be at an
even higher risk of developing postpartum depression than those with unipolar
depression.

One study examined 2,340 women who went to Massachusetts General Hospital between
the years of 1996 and 1999. Of these women, 1,814 of them filled out a mood disorder
questionnaire while in their second trimester. Using these results women were able to be
diagnosed with bipolar disorder and a score of 16 or more on the Epidemiologic Studies
Depression Scale was used to diagnose unipolar depression. The average age of all the
women in this study (both with depression and without) was 32.5 years old, for 61% of
them it was their first child.

"In the second trimester, the prevalence of depression was about 52% among women
with a history of bipolar disorder, about 34% among those with a history of unipolar
depression, and about 8% among women with no history of a mood disorder.... At the
sixth week post partum, the prevalence of depression was 50% among women with a
history of bipolar disorder, about 32% among women with a history of unipolar
depression, and about 6% among women with no history of mood disorders" (Zoler,
2005).

The effects of lithium on children via breast milk was also looked at. There were minimal
traces of lithium in breast milk and 9 out of 10 children showed no negative affects from
the lithium. The one baby that did have a negative reaction only had elevated levels of
TSH and the levels went back to a normal range after 2 weeks of the child not being
exposed to lithium. TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone, having too much or too little can
have negative effects on your body. Babies of lithium-treated mothers should "be
monitored by serum assays of TSH, blood urea nitrogen, and serum creatinine every 6-8
weeks during breastfeeding" (Zoler, 2005). In most cases, lithium does not have a
detrimental effect on children via breast milk.