Postpartum depression
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Screening for postpartum depression

There are a few tests for spotting postpartum depression. The most widely used one is called the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, or EPDS for short.

This test has 10 questions that ask about your feelings and behavior. You answer based on how you have felt in the past seven days.1

The highest score you can get is 30. The higher your score, the more likely it is that you have postpartum depression. You may be sent to your doctor if your score is higher than 9.

This test is designed for screening. That means it can help to pick out women who are likely to have postpartum depression. The test is not designed for diagnosis. That means it can't tell for sure if you have postpartum depression. Only a doctor can do that.



Sources for the information on this page:
  1. National Screening Committee. Evaluation of screening for postnatal depression against the NSC handbook criteria. August 2001. Available at http://www.library.nhs.uk/screening/ViewResource.aspx?resID=60971 (accessed on 12 July 2007).
This information was last updated in Oct 13, 2008