Massachusetts General Hospital is allowing new mothers to screen for postpartum depression with just a few taps of her finger.
The creators of the hospital’s free iPhone app aim to help women — particularly in areas like the Cape, where psychiatric resources are scarce — and even hope to incorporate certain treatments in later versions of the tool. The app is titled “MGH Perinatal Depression Scale.”
“So much of our lives are smartphone-driven,” said Dr. Lee Cohen, director of the hospital’s Ammon-Pinizzotto Center for Women’s Mental Health and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “My vision, my hope for the future, is that screening and digital delivery of treatment will be hand-in-hand.”
Postpartum depression can be a terrifying experience for mothers who suffer from intense stress, irritability and problems bonding with their new babies. About one in nine women experience postpartum depression, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Just last month, Ivanka Trump publicized her battle with postpartum depression after all three of her pregnancies.
The app, launched a month ago, tracks the mother’s condition over time, starting from the later stages of pregnancy.
“That’s so important because depression during pregnancy is the strongest predictor of postpartum depression,” Cohen said.
Although it is common, Cohen said, about 25 percent of women who screen for the condition register false positives.
The app uses more extensive screening questions about stress, anxiety and sleep to avoid mistaking normal stressors of new parenthood with depression.
“It’s a stressful time, but how patients experience this time is variable,” he said.
Dr. Maryanne Bombaugh, past chair of the Massachusetts Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the app is a welcome tool to “address a huge public health problem.”
Bombaugh said, “It has devastating effects on women, their babies and their families.”
The app is not the only patient-centered way to track moms potentially suffering from the condition. A program in Massachusetts, MCPAP for Moms, provides real-time consultations remotely.
Bombaugh cautioned that self-screening apps like Cohen’s can be dangerous for those who feel compelled to harm themselves.
“The only concern is for emergencies,” she said. “You wouldn’t want to miss someone who should be in the emergency department or the physician’s office.”