The American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports in a new article that women who quit smoking during pregnancy are nearly twice as likely to relapse and begin smoking again if they experience postpartum depression. This is, of course, bad for the woman and bad for her baby. Yet another negative affect of postpartum depression on the family.

Alisa Lorraine Evans was just acquitted in the drowning death of one of her infant twins. She will be committed to a mental institution with the possibility of supervised release. Diana Lynn Barnes and Ruta Nonacs served as consultants to Alisa's attorney and testified in the case in Milwaukee. Diana believes this verdict shows the progress being made in the postpartum mood and anxiety disorder arena. Here is the original news report on the case from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Thank God for Warrior Moms who share their pain and confusion with others, so that we might all know that we are not alone. This is a very brave post from Beyond Postpartum about what it's really like to be a mom -- how we thought we'd feel and how we often really feel but don't want to admit lest others think we're bad mothers... Natalie Dombrowski (who I met in Chicago at the Jennifer Mudd Houghtaling conference) shares her story with her local newspaper ... The mom at My Journey Through Postpartum Depression writes about how people who have never had PPD just expect us to "snap out of it" ... Grrrrrrr, that makes my blood boil ... let's reach out to her a give her a Warrior Mom Virtual Hug ... Erin at the Fierce Beagle (note: it takes a while until she gets to the part about...

Lots of news. So much in fact that I'm not sure where to start ... Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) has reintroduced the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act (HR 20). Let's hope the 111th Congress can get this through both houses once and for all! The Postpartum Dads Project is looking for guest bloggers. Topics can range from new parenting advice to divorce survival. They prefer a postpartum mood or anxiety disorder angle in all articles. Guest bloggers can be male or female. Please send ideas or completed articles to submissions@postpartumdadsproject.org. Shoshanna Bennett has just released her new book, Pregnant on Prozac. The book covers mental health concerns facing women who are pregnant or thinking about pregnancy. Safety information regarding medication and alternative treatments in pregnancy for depression, bipolar disorder and other illnesses are discussed. You can order it through the PSI bookstore by clicking here. Mary Jo Codey recently appeared...

Just got back from vacation with my family in Spain. Barcelona is a very beautiful city! Anyway, sorry I've been gone for a while -- I really enjoyed my time away from the laptop and the emails, but now it's time to get back to work!!!

Psych Central, the internet's largest and oldest independent mental health network, has just announced its 2008 Top Ten Depression Blogs. I'm honored to say that Postpartum Progress is on that list, along with Depression Marathon, The Suicide List, The Splintered Mind, Beyond Blue (go Therese!), Storied Mind, A Beautiful Revolution, Letters from Exile, Avoidance Junkie and Chunks of Reality. Congrats to all! Here's what Sandra Kiume wrote about Postpartum Progress: Katherine Stone writes a peer-to-peer blog that covers all aspects of postpartum depression and anxiety, postpartum psychosis, and other mental health concerns connected to childbirth. Newly released research, media coverage of PPD, and her own exploits in advocacy are frequent topics. On our top ten list last year, this year she was also named one of WebMD’s 2008 Health Heroes and a top mental health blog by Blogs.com. She maintains many links to professional resources, blogs and research links, as...

Here is an interesting story from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on the process for the revision of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual and the huge fights that go on when deciding what goes in the manual and what stays out. What should be considered a mental disorder? What shouldn't? Postpartum Depression is not listed as a separate and distinct illness in the current DSM. It is listed under Major Depression as depression with postpartum onset within the 4 weeks postpartum, which is, of course, crazy. PPD can show up any time in the first 12 MONTHS postpartum. I hope they update the manual to more correctly reflect perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Here's this week's Warrior Mom Roundup of new mothers with postpartum depression ... Kelly at the blog If I Had Not Believed writes about how having postpartum depression is " ... like looking through a plexiglass window, where you can't hear anything on the other side, but you can see people going about their lives, occasionally tapping the window to see if you'll respond." Shell at C Shell? writes about people's reactions to the gory details of her postpartum psychosis as she writes about them in her blog. She refuses to edit herself and believes in sharing the whole story honestly so that it might help someone else.

Attached is the call for abstracts for the 2009 Postpartum Support International annual conference in Los Angeles. Deadline is Feb. 15, 2009. Download 2009_call_for_abstracts[1]

Massachusetts General Hospital has created a National Pregnancy Registry for women who are taking atypical antipsychotic medication during pregnancy. The registry was created to obtain information about the safety of these medications when used during pregnancy. If you are a pregnant woman between the ages of 18 and 45 and currently treated with one or more of the following atypical antipsychotics: Abilify (aripiprazole) Clozaril (clozapine) Geodon (ziprasidone) Invega (paliperidone) Risperdal (risperidone) Seroquel (quetiapine) Zyprexa (olanzapine) Register now by calling 1-866-961-2388 to help them learn more about the safety of these medicines in pregnancy. The study will involve 3 brief phone interviews over an 8-month period.

I don't know. I think I'd put this in the category of "Did they really need to spend money on research to figure this out??" I suppose I shouldn't be a pain in the butt about it, but it feels obvious. Anyway, ignore me and read on: "A study published in the current issue of the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing shows that depression symptoms worsen in PPD patients when their quality of sleep declines. Sleep deprivation can hamper a mother's ability to care for her infant, as judgment and concentration decline. Sleep-deprived mothers also may inadvertently compromise their infants' sleep quality because infants often adopt their mothers' circadian sleep rhythms. All new mothers experience some sleep loss following childbirth, as their estrogen and progesterone hormone levels plunge. They typically spend 20 percent more of the day awake than average during the first six weeks postpartum. Postpartum women...

This is a very interesting piece from Therese Borchard at the Beyond Blue blog on Beliefnet on what the research community is learning about depression and how it differs from long-held beliefs that depression is simply a chemical imabalance. You should read this, and the article in Psychology Today magazine that it points to. For all of us who are really struggling to understand why we suffer postpartum depression or anxiety, this is really fascinating and enlightening, even though it doesn't offer all the answers. The brain is a complicated and wondrous thing.

There are some great trainings on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders coming up in March ... Postpartum Support International's 2-day Certificate of Completion Training "Perinatal Mood Disorders: Components of Care" will be held March 12 and 13 in Indianapolis and March 26 and 27 in Detroit. The event in Indianapolis is sponsored by Clarian Health. Contact Sandra Piercy at spiercy@clarian.org for more information. The event in Michigan is sponsored by the Tree of Hope Foundation. Karen Kleiman is also hosting a 10-hour postgraduate training program designed to enhance clinical skills and therapeutic effectiveness in the treatment of postpartum illness. The event will be March 6 and 7. Register here. Early registration ends soon.

Today is my birthday. December 10 -- Wahoo! I LOVE this day, because I get to eat Publix cake -- yellow cake with vanilla frosting. I've decided to steal an idea from Kimberly Wong and Birdie Meyer (thanks ladies!) and ask anyone who is interested to please donate to Postpartum Support International today (or tomorrow, if you can't get to it) in honor of Postpartum Progress. Here's where to go to donate: http://postpartum.net/donate/. Any amount will help. Thank you. Also, for those of you who haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, if you buy through the website iGive.com, a percentage of the purchase will be donated to the charity of our choice, which in this case would hopefully be Postpartum Support International. Igive partners with such companies as Amazon.com, Babies R Us, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, eBay, Eddie Bauer, FAO Schwartz, The Gap, LL Bean, Lego, Macy's, Netflix, Nordstrom,...