What now
Postpartum depression screening only helps when it leads to real care: a local next step after every positive screen, support through the full first year, research that includes pregnant and postpartum women, and funded specialized services. Help is available now at 1-833-TLC-MAMA.
This Is Why, Part 7 of 7: Screening is not care
Over this series, we’ve walked through the history:
- Women were kept out of early drug research from 1977 to 1993, and pregnant women are still largely excluded.
- Psychiatry removed “postpartum” from its manual in 1980, and it still has no standalone diagnosis.
- The first medication for postpartum depression arrived in 2019 and is already gone. One remains.
- The first US inpatient unit for pregnant and postpartum women opened in 2011, with 5 beds.
- The first national strategy for maternal mental health came in 2024.
- Mental health conditions are now the leading cause of pregnancy-related death.
So when my client was handed one questionnaire and told to Google it, that wasn’t a fluke. That’s the system working exactly as it was built.
Here’s what needs to change:
- Screening has to lead somewhere. A positive Edinburgh score needs a clear, local next step, every time.
- Care has to last the full year. That’s the window in which these deaths are counted.
- Pregnant and postpartum women belong in research, so treatment is based on evidence, not extrapolation.
- Specialized services need real funding: perinatal therapists, peer support, intensive programs, and inpatient beds where mom and baby can stay together.
That’s why Bloom Foundation exists. [Add a sentence or two here about what Bloom does and how people can get involved.]
If you’re pregnant or postpartum and something feels off: you are not imagining it, and you are not alone.
- National Maternal Mental Health Hotline: call or text 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262), free, confidential, 24/7. (HRSA)
- In a crisis: call or text 988. (PTTC)
- Postpartum Support International: postpartum.net
- [Your local or Bloom resources here]
This is why. Now let’s change it.