"Phone support can help ease postpartum depression a small study suggests offering an option for mothers who are unable or unwilling to seek therapy in person.  In the study women with postpartum depression received telephone counseling from other women who had previously suffered from the disorder and recovered. The new moms found that the conversations helped relieve symptoms.  Postpartum depression is a problem for one in seven women and many of them dont get help because theres a stigma and they dont have time and its expensive said study leader Dr. Nicole Letourneau a professor and research chair in parentinfant mental health at the University of Calgary. Training peer counselors to do phone counseling is an effective lowcost and nonstigmatizing way for new moms to get the help they need.  Particularly for firsttime mothers postpartum depression can be hard to distinguish from the stress and fatigue that come with caring for a new infant around the clock Letourneau said. Symptoms can include sadness insomnia difficulty concentrating and making decisions feelings of shame or guilt as well as difficulty bonding with the baby or thoughts about harming the baby.  To assess the effectiveness of phone counseling for easing these symptoms Letourneau and colleagues identified  mothers with symptoms of major depression within  months after delivery and offered them up to  weekly peer support calls.  The average mom with depression was about  years old. Most had symptoms of depression before they got pregnant and many had previously been treated with medication or professional counseling.  The women who volunteered as peer counselors attended an eighthour training course and received reference materials about postpartum depression. They also had nurses available for phone consults if they had concerns about anything the moms said during their conversations.  By midway through the study  new moms had received at least one call from a peer counsellor. On average the women spoke more than eight times and the calls typically lasted about  minutes the researchers reported in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.  Over the second half of the study  mothers had at least one phone conversation with a peer counsellor. On average they spoke about three times.  Mothers who left the study said they no longer needed support sought counseling from mental health professionals or didnt have time for the phone calls.  While all of the mothers were depressed at the start of the study at midpoint only  percent were at risk for depression and this declined to  percent at the end. Furthermore at midpoint  percent of the mothers had low depression scores this percentage rose to  percent at end.  Even though the small study had several women drop out and lacked a control group of moms who received different treatment the results are consistent with previous research that has proven peer counseling works said Dr. Ruta Nonacs a psychiatrist at the Center for Womens Mental Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  It is a very powerful experience to be able to talk to a woman who has gone through the same thing and come out the other side said Nonacs who wasnt involved in the study. A lot of firsttime moms wonder whats normal whats depression and what to do with the fact that they feel overwhelmed and alone and like their experience looks nothing like the happy moms they see smiling in all of the baby food and diaper commercials.  Because postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbirth it makes sense to explore peer counseling and other interventions that can reach women in rural or suburban areas where access to mental health professionals may be limited said Dr. Samantha MeltzerBrody director of the perinatal psychiatry program at the Center for Womens Mood Disorders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Most people in the world have access to a telephone said MeltzerBrody who wasnt involved in the study. This study while small suggests that peer phone counseling could be a very effective widespread public health intervention.  SOURCE bit.lyMPlxUu httpbit.lyMPlxUu Journal of Advanced Nursing online February  . Our StandardsThe Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. httpthomsonreuters.comenaboutustrustprinciples.html"