Sincere thanks to Corrine Mahar-Sylvestre for her post about her own
experience with post-partum depression.  It was very brave of her to go
public with her story and help all of us understand just what might be
happening with a mother who seems "overwhelmed" for no good reason.

I have a question about treatment of depression (general or post-partum)
with drugs when there are good reasons for the depression -- do these drugs
(Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac) work to elevate mood in people who are depressed for
good reason?  Like Corrine after her dad had a massive heart attack and one
of her roommates attempted suicide?  Or like my mother-in-law after her
wonderful husband died, or like my graduate student who has stage 2 breast
cancer?  Or are these drugs mostly helpful only if a person is depressed for
no apparent reason (like PPD, or just feeling really bad even when outwardly
everything is going well?).

My graduate student was prescribed Paxil because she was "crying all the
time for no reason."  This is a 40 year old woman with three kids (ages
10-18), who was just diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer on Christmas Eve,
had a bilateral mastectomy, half her lymph nodes involved, and is struggling
through nasty chemotherapy.  I told her she had two good reasons to cry --
breast cancer, and treatment for breast cancer, but that if the Paxil made
her feel even a little bit better, more power to her.  Still, I thought the
attitude of the oncologist who prescribed the Paxil was horrible.  :(

Kathy Dettwyler

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