Kelly Devine Arch, DNP, CNM, PMHNP-BC, CLC

Panelists discuss how providers can utilize resources like Postpartum Support International for training, certification, and referrals, while building community networks and making warm handoffs to ensure patients receive appropriate care without barriers.

Panelists discuss how new FDA-approved treatments like zuranolone offer rapid onset options for postpartum depression, while monitoring effectiveness requires regular follow-up, rescreening, symptom assessment, and addressing global factors like sleep support and breastfeeding pressures.

Panelists discuss how treatment barriers include limited prescriptive access and long wait times, while successful treatment plans require assessing severity levels, maternal functioning, support systems, and incorporating follow-up care with appropriate interventions based on the patient’s specific needs.

Panelists discuss how to manage positive screens through resources like Postpartum Support International, state psychiatric consultation lines, combination therapy approaches, and addressing patient concerns about medication through evidence-based conversations and gradual implementation.

Panelists discuss how to overcome patient reluctance to discuss postpartum depression through normalization, early conversations during pregnancy, comprehensive screening integration, and addressing stigma by comparing mental health treatment with other medical conditions.

Panelists discuss how effective screening goes beyond formal tools like the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to include genuine patient connection, direct questioning about emotional well-being, and clinical observation, while emphasizing the important role pediatricians can play in identifying maternal mental health concerns during frequent baby visits.

Panelists discuss how reproductive psychiatry is an evolving subspecialty that requires collaboration between obstetricians, primary care providers, and psychiatrists, with clear guidelines for when to refer patients (such as those with bipolar history, psychosis, or treatment resistance) while building capacity for basic screening and treatment in obstetric settings.

Panelists discuss how certain patients require closer monitoring, including those with previous mental health histories, recent losses, childhood trauma, or abrupt medication cessation, while emphasizing the importance of continuing necessary psychiatric medications during pregnancy and lactation through proper risk-benefit discussions.

Panelists discuss how untreated perinatal mood disorders create cascading effects that impact breastfeeding, partner relationships, and child development, and can lead to adverse childhood experiences with long-term consequences for both mothers and children across generations.

Panelists discuss how perinatal mood and anxiety disorders can occur throughout pregnancy and postpartum periods, with symptoms varying based on timing and requiring differentiation from other conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder through careful assessment of presenting symptoms.

Panelists discuss how postpartum depression differs from the normative “baby blues” experience, with postpartum depression being more persistent, severe, and functionally impairing compared with the temporary emotional fluctuations of baby blues that resolve within 2 weeks.