Depression after Childbirth

Details

The first edition of Depression After Childbirth was published over 20 years ago. This fourth edition has been fully revised and updated.

It even includes a chapter for new fathers, outlining the important role that men play in supporting their partners through the challenges of parenting a newborn.

The book offers a thoroughly scientific presentation of the phenomenon of hormone-induced depression. Written in a very accessible style, it will appeal not just to caregivers, but also to the women who suffer from this common syndrome.

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Author

Katharina Dalton

Dr. Katharina Dalton was the first to establish the connection between hormonal changes and the physical and mental changes women experience cyclically and throughout life. When she became pregnant and noted that the migraines she suffered every month had abated, Dr. Dalton became fascinated by the possibility of treating the physical and emotional fluctuations associated with the menstrual cycle.

In 1953, with Raymond Greene, she wrote the first paper on the condition she called premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and in subsequent years she set up the first clinic in Britain to treat it.

A chiropodist and mother, Dr. Dalton published pioneering studies about PMS, developed the systematic use of menstrual charts for the diagnosis of PMS, and was the first to use progesterone to treat it.

In addition to publishing a steady stream of research papers, she was the author of several internationally best-selling books, and from 1957, ran the PMS clinic at London's University College Hospital, the first of its kind in the world. She also believed progesterone might be useful in treating postnatal depression and encouraged studying it for this use.

Her testimony was frequently sought to defend women who pleaded diminished responsibility because of premenstrual syndrome. She was an expert witness for the defense of Anna Reynolds, a woman charged with manslaughter, and of Nicola Owen, an arsonist who struck at intervals that were multiples of 28 days. Both women were acquitted.

Her publications included Premenstrual Syndrome (1964); The Menstrual Cycle (1969); Premenstrual Syndrome and Progesterone Therapy (1977); Once a Month (1978); and Depression After Childbirth (1980).

She was a founder member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and in 1982 she was made a fellow of the college. In 1970, she served as president of the General Practitioners’ Section of the Royal College of Medicine. Despite incapacitating arthritis, she continued to work until she was 84, retiring in 2000 having run her clinic for 40 years.

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Contents

List of figures -- xi
Abbreviations -- xiii

1 Introduction -- 1
2 The changes of pregnancy -- 13
3 Progesterone - its molecules and receptors -- 26
4 The blues -- 41
5 Black depression -- 47
6 Endless exhaustion -- 62
7 Irrational irritability -- 69
8 Not tonight, Josephine -- 77
9 Psychosis -- 85
10 Infanticide and homicide -- 92
11 Tales of three mothers -- 103
12 Maternal behavior in animals -- 118
13 Who is at risk? -- 123
14 Premenstrual syndrome -- 139
15 Treat the cause not the symptoms -- 147
16 Progesterone preventive treatment -- 150
17 Stress - can we ease it? -- 164
18 The medical team -- 172
19 The three-hourly starch diet -- 181
20 Careers and motherhood -- 190
21 And fathers too -- 198
22 We all can help -- 205
23 A way ahead -- 220

Useful addresses -- 224
Further reading -- 225 Some publications by Katharina Dalton -- 226 Publications by Wendy Holton -- 230 Glossary of Drugs -- 231
Glossary -- 233
Index-- 237

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