Motherhood is Not a Medical Disorder

This recent article in Time Magazine discusses the Mother’s Act, legislation initiated in response to the story of Melanie Blocker-Stokes, who leaped to her death from her hotel room in Chicago three months after the birth of her daughter. Officially known as the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Post Partum Depression Research and Care Act, but referred to as the Mother’s Act, this legislation would require screening of all women post-partum for depression.

The problem with this is the attitude that being a mother is a risk factor for a psychiatric disorder. First of all, there is no evidence that women without a prior history of anxiety and depression have any increased risk of getting post partum depression. So to screen all moms as if giving birth is a risk factor for depression is ridiculous. And whenever you start screening the general population, you get into problems with over-identification of people and an increase in the number of people that go on antidepressants. I am opposed to mandatory screenings of the population, like Teenscreen, which are bonanzas for the pharmaceutical industry, but a major intrusion into the privacy and autonomy of American citizens. In the case of Melanie Blocker-Stokes, she had already been treated with multiple courses of psychotropic drugs and electro-convulsive therapy, so there is no reason to think that her life would have been saved by “screening”. This legislation is typical of much that comes out of an individual tragedy, that results in an intrusion into the personal lives of individuals and the further relinqueshment of individual freedoms to the government.

The article quotes psychiatrist Katherine Wisner MD as stating ”how can you be opposed to something that will help mothers?” But an examination of the fine print from one of her articles here shows that she is on speakers bureaus for Pfizer and Lilly, makers of Zoloft and Prozac, respectively. 

In it is quoted Amy Philo, a leader of the coalition against the Mother’s Act. Her experience was that after her baby choked on his vomit and needed emergency treatment, she became increasingly anxious about his health. Her doctor gave her Zoloft, telling her that it would make both her and her baby happier. After treatment with Zoloft, she started having alarming suicidal thoughts and thoughts about hurting her baby. When she weaned herself off of Zoloft she felt fine. This experience led her to start the United Non-Profits and Individuals for Truth and Ethics (UNITE), a coalition opposed to the Mother’s Act (click here to sign their petition). Time magazine recently corrected a statement that she had post-partum depression and developed thoughts of harm before taking Zoloft, which wasn’t true.

[update: read more on the debate that arose after this post here at Amy Philo's The Bitter Pill blog and my responses to John Grohol's attack on this post ("Bremner makes false claims...") here and here.]