Maintaining vigilance for postnatal depression

Postnatal depression (PND) is a common mental health disorder affecting around one in 10 women. A 2001 Cochrane review found that most PND studies were citing the same statistic and that this has remained consistent over a 30-year period.
It is interesting to note that there is not a separate diagnostic criterion for the symptoms in either the ICD-10 or DSM-IV criteria, except to differentiate PND from depression by timing, i.e. it is postnatal.
This means that when assessing women for PND, we should look for the common signs and symptoms of depression and offer treatment according to severity.