Postpartum: Mother Prescribed Med For Depression Commits Suicide
Summary:
First paragraph reads: "When a doctor prescribed an antidepressant for the daughter of Thomas Griffin Jr., MD, nearly 20 years ago, the intention was to ease her postpartum depression symptoms. Instead, she committed suicide."
When a doctor prescribed an antidepressant for the daughter of Thomas Griffin Jr., MD, nearly 20 years ago, the intention was to ease her postpartum depression symptoms. Instead, she committed suicide.
"Unfortunately, we didn't know she had bipolar spectrum disorder," Dr. Griffin, a family physician in Oro Valley, Ariz., told colleagues during a session of the American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 14-17.
Antidepressants increase the risk of suicide in bipolar patients, research shows.
Dr. Griffin grieved his daughter's death for months. When he returned to work, he did so with a new focus borne of that tragedy -- never overlook a patient with bipolar disorder.
Nearly two decades later, bipolar disorder and many other mental illnesses still are underdiagnosed and not properly managed, medical experts say.
One in four adults -- about 57.7 million Americans -- experiences a mental health disorder in any given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Of these people, about 6% have a serious mental health condition such as bipolar disorder, major depression or schizophrenia.
Left untreated, mental illness can lead to unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness and suicide, the alliance says. And yet, only 36% of adults with mental illness received medical treatment for their condition within a 12-month period, according to 2005 data from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Part of the problem, experts say, is that the responsibility of identifying mental health conditions increasingly is falling on primary care physicians, many of whom have limited time for office visits and little training in treating such disorders. Each year, 1 in 4 adults experiences a mental health disorder.
To help physicians properly diagnose and manage mental illness, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders is expected to include practical information for primary care doctors. The manual is scheduled for release in 2013.
Some of the proposed changes include reducing the 10 personality disorder categories to six and widening the criteria for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
At the AAFP meeting, medical experts reminded physicians that they are often the first to see mental illness, and it is their responsibility not only to detect the conditions but also to treat them.
"Primary care physicians are in a perfect position, because they see people over and over again and should be able to pick up on changes and dysfunction in the patient" over time, Dr. Griffin said.
Overlooking mental illness
Among the most overlooked mental health conditions is postpartum depression, said family physician Barbara Yawn, MD, MPH. She led a session on the illness, which affects 10% to 15% of mothers within a year after giving birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Medical experts consider the illness to be underdiagnosed. A 2000 Pediatrics study of 214 women who brought their children to a pediatric clinic found that 40% of the women reported high levels of depressive symptoms, but only 29% were identified as depressed. Eating disorders are twice as common in girls as in boys.
"People still have the mistaken idea that having a new baby is such an exciting event that there couldn't be a very big problem with postpartum depression," said Dr. Yawn, director of research at Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. Another problem, she said, is that staff often gush over babies when new mothers come in for a medical visit. Such a reaction makes it difficult for women to admit they are having problems.
She recommends that doctors encourage their staffs to ask new mothers how they are feeling. If a woman mentions problems such as being tired, Dr. Yawn suggests staff reply, "It can be kind of tough to be a new mom. You might want to talk to the doctor about that."Thomas Griffin Jr., MD, works with counselor Annette Ladd, when treating patients with mental illnesses. He urges primary care physicians to find mental health professionals in their area who can help provide treatment. "Don't try to do it all alone," he said. "Working collaboratively with other mental health professionals as a team is invaluable."
Dr. Yawn encourages physicians to screen all new mothers for postpartum depression using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The 10-question survey can be administered while patients wait for their office visit.
If women have a score of 10 or higher, she suggests giving them the nine-question Patient Health Questionnaire, which helps assess the severity of depression. In these instances, she also recommends that physicians talk to patients to determine if the depressive symptoms could be due to another factor, such as hypothyroidism or domestic violence.
Dr. Yawn said most women diagnosed with postpartum depression can be treated with an antidepressant. She suggests that a nurse call the patient within 10 days of prescribing the drug to see how the mother is doing. Women who regularly think about harming themselves or their baby should be sent to an emergency department for care, she added.
Similar to postpartum depression, major depression often goes undetected, said Dr. Griffin, who led a session on depression, suicide and mood disorders. Some physicians mistakenly think a depressed patient has to be sad, he said. A more accurate indicator is that the individual is having less fun or enjoys things less than he or she did in the past.
NIMH data show that major depressive disorder is one of the most common mental disorders in the U.S., affecting about 6.7% of adults in any given year. Within a 12-month period, 52% of people with depression received treatment for the condition, according to NIMH.
Dr. Griffin screens his patients for depression with the PHQ-9 and uses the Mood Disorder Questionnaire to assess whether they have bipolar disorder or other mood-related conditions. The MDQ is available online at no cost.
To make sure he does not overlook bipolar disorder, Dr. Griffin also talks to a patient about how he or she is feeling and looks for symptoms of the illness, which include irritability, distractibility, insomnia, grandiosity, racing thoughts and pressured speech.
When treating depressed or bipolar patients, he tells them, "What I'm giving you might make you feel worse, but don't panic, because that will give us really good information about what might be going on and then we can select the proper treatment."
To monitor patients' reactions to antidepressants, Dr. Griffin sees them within two weeks.
Diagnosing eating disorders
Among the challenges in diagnosing mental illness is that some conditions have similar symptoms, medical experts say. Two examples are anorexia and bulimia, which are commonly misdiagnosed as depression, said David Paul Robinson, MD, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine physician in Tallahassee, Fla. He led a session at the meeting on eating disorders. Postpartum depression affects 10% to 15% of all mothers within a year of giving birth.
When Dr. Robinson sees a patient who has been losing weight, he typically says, "You looked better last year. What do you think about gaining 12 pounds?" If the patient starts to cry at the thought of putting on weight, he said the problem probably is anorexia or bulimia, not depression.
About 3% of youths 13 to 18 will have a severe eating disorder some time in their lives, according to NIMH. The disorders are more than 2½ times more common in girls than in boys. To help diagnose an eating disorder, Dr. Robinson recommends looking for signs of the illness. Patients with anorexia are preoccupied with food, calories and weight and often wear baggy or layered clothing. Bulimia is characterized by binge eating followed by vomiting or excessive exercise. Other symptoms include a chronically inflamed and sore throat, worn tooth enamel and acid reflux disorder.
After diagnosing an eating disorder, Dr. Robinson calculates the patient's body mass index and checks vital signs. He takes a patient history with the parent in the room so he can watch the adult's response when the child responds to questions about eating habits. A child with an eating disorder often will lie about how much food he or she consumes, said Dr. Robinson, an associate clinical professor at Florida State University College of Medicine.
He weighs patients at every visit but does not let them see their weight. He recommends that physicians avoid telling those with an eating disorder, "You look great." Patients often interpret that comment as meaning they have gained weight and are fat.
Dr. Robinson encourages physicians to see such patients regularly. He also suggests including counselors and nutritionists in the management of such patients.
Antidepressants can help treat patients with bulimia by reducing binge-eating episodes and depression and lessening the chance of relapse, Dr. Robinson said. But he said the drugs are not effective in treating anorexia. He recommends hospitalizing patients who weigh less than 75% of the expected body weight for their height.
Dr. Yawn said learning how to identify and manage mental health disorders can be a challenge. "In family medicine, we are supposed to be able to treat common illnesses," she said. "It is incumbent upon us to learn how to treat" these disorders.