In a message dated 96-05-07 17:20:27 EDT, Kathy  writes:

>Hormones are the cause of PPD you are most likely to hear about.  Yet many
>other factors have strong evidence including crying babies, sleep
deprivation
>and lack of social support.

I have to agree here.  As a former sufferer of PPD with my first son (severe
enough to have halucinations of my kid being the devil...) I feel that if I
had had the support of my family and friends, I would not have suffered as I
did.  I also suffered in silence, thinking that if I told anyone what I was
feeling I'd lose my son.  I thought I was crazy and the system doesn't let
crazy moms keep their babies, right?  I know now that I was wrong and should
have gotten help.  With my 2nd, I had a lot of stress due to severe BF
problems, lack of sleep, crying baby and needy 9yr old.  Thank God I had my
Hubby and his family for support.  Because of them, I made it through, what I
call Hell, without slipping back into a nasty case of PPD.  Had I been a
single mom again, I think it is highly likely that I would have ended up on
meds for PPD.  (BTW, depression runs strongly in my family, so I am already
at risk.  I fought clinical depression for 4 years)

So aside from hormones, there are definitely other outside factors that can
lead to PPD.
Just my 2 cents.
Jay