Postpartum Depression Demystified: An Essential Guide for Understanding and Overcoming the Most Common Complication after Childbirth [Paperback]

Joyce A. Venis RNC RNC (Author), Suzanne McCloskey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2007

Postpartum depression is the most common complication women experience after childbirth — nearly 700,000 new moms suffer from it each year. Yet this serious mood disorder, characterized by sadness, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness and guilt, insomnia, and thoughts of harming the baby or oneself, continues to be widely misunderstood and frequently misdiagnosed. In Postpartum Depression Demystified, renowned PPD authority Joyce Venis and Suzanne McCloskey, both PPD sufferers themselves, turn their combined experience and expertise into an insightful and supportive guide for everyone living with and seeking to understand this condition. Venis and McCloskey cover topics including: the nature of PPD and how it differs from other perinatal mood disorders how to recognize and cope with the symptoms how to obtain an accurate diagnosis key risk factors and how to minimize them medications and therapies getting the support you need from your partner, family, and friends how PPD can affect your relationship with your partner and your baby nurturing yourself through recovery

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joyce A. Venis, RNC is a Psychiatric Registered Nurse and the president of Depression After Delivery, Inc. With over 30 years of nursing experience, Venis is a nationally recognized figure and highly regarded for her work and clinical expertise in pregnancy, postpartum, PMS, perimenopause, and menopause. Venis is founder and director of the Princeton Area D.A.D., Inc. PPD support group. She also started the first PMS support group in New Jersey, which continues today as the Women’s Support Group at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Venis lectures extensively (at venues including Harvard and Fordham universities), has been on multiple television and radios shows, including Geraldo, Oxygen, and Lifetime, and was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in American Nursing. She has been interviewed for various publications including Newsweek, the Chicago Sun, Parenting, Parents, American Baby, and Jet. She has testified before Congress, participated in the formulation of a state resolution, and was an instrumental witness for a PPD case in New Jersey. Perhaps, most notably in this context, she is a PPD survivor. Her son, Mark, is now 35 years old and is affectionately called the “PMS/PPD Poster Child.” Her plight took her through 22 different healthcare modalities during her PPD. “There is no reason for anyone to suffer as I did…that is why I do what I do. It was meant to be.” Besides her son Mark, Ms. Venis has three stepdaughters, and four grandchildren. She lives in northern New Jersey. Suzanne McCloskey was until January 2006 an editor at Marlowe & Company, where she acquired and edited many books on health, psychology, relationships, and parenting, including, in the Demystified series, Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified. She lives in Westchester County, NY.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569242666
• ISBN-13: 978-1569242667
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #914,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #80 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Postpartum Depression

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is Hope, February 13, 2007

By 

A reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Postpartum Depression Demystified: An Essential Guide for Understanding and Overcoming the Most Common Complication after Childbirth (Paperback)

Joyce Venis is a woman who personally experienced the agony of postpartum depression - and has since then invested her considerable talents and energies in reaching out to others who are suffering. She is the "real deal" - she genuinely cares about helping women, and she knows what she's talking about.

On a personal level, Joyce was one of a number of key people who came alongside me during a near-fatal postpartum illness. She had never met me in person, but she called regularly for many months to offer all of the help that she could during the greatest challenge I've ever weathered. Her heart in caring for people is beautiful, indeed.

If you are suffering and alone, in the midst of a time when you cannot see any light, you won't go wrong turning here for advice. I once read, "Counsel from the well to the sick always falls short and misses the mark." That is bitterly true - but you won't find cheap advice here. Joyce paid for her understanding with her own suffering; you can trust her compassion and true investment in your healing. She has been there!

Thank you, Joyce! May this book help many others enduring their personal dark night of the soul.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life-saving warning signs and advice, June 14, 2007

By 

D. Krug - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Postpartum Depression Demystified: An Essential Guide for Understanding and Overcoming the Most Common Complication after Childbirth (Paperback)

This book truly demystifies postpartum depression. The authors describe the warning signs and provide coping mechanisms to deal with PPD. Thanks to Joyce Venis, PPD is less of a stigma and is becoming more understood. A must read for pregnant women and for new mothers!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Only Women Experience The Effects Of PPD!!!, February 21, 2007

By 

M. Venis (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Postpartum Depression Demystified: An Essential Guide for Understanding and Overcoming the Most Common Complication after Childbirth (Paperback)

Men, this book is a must read for you as well. This will give you the insight to a better understanding of what it is that our "Moms" are going through. Moms aren't the only ones who suffer, we do to. Through Joyce's extremely hard work and personal experience, this book helps us better understand an illness, that many do not know exists. No one knows better than me the personal sacrifice, pain, tears and most of all, care that Joyce has dedicated to Moms out there through phone calls, support groups and her practice. It makes me VERY proud that she has finally put her knowledge/experience into words for everyone to read. She has spent a lifetime helping Moms everywhere and making this book happen. It's long over due. Like I said, no one knows better than me. Not only am I a PPD survivor, I am her son!!!!!