law that requires a mother to have a mental health exam

April 26, 2006

SSRI-Research@

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:51:52 -0400

[sSRI-Research] Mandatory Screening of Mothers in New Jersey

- New Law

http://tinyurl.com/er32k

The Record (Bergen County, NJ) Circulation: 166,373

April 20, 2006

Regarding " Postpartum lifeline "

I thought we lived in a free country.

Now New Jersey has a law that requires a mother to have a mental

health exam after having a baby. What will be next: mental health

exams for mothers who have children failing in school, or maybe who

have children who don't look like everyone else?

New Jersey legislators need to take another look at this issue and

consider making the mental health exam optional. Do they think that

women can't think for themselves? Do they really think that a test

" knows best " what is good for an individual?

Government doesn't have the right to legislate what is " normal "

behavior. I would like to see a return of more personal freedoms

rather than the government mandating whether we are " mentally ill " or not.

Bill Simpson

April 26, 2006

I'm probably going to be the only one here... but as a mom of 2, I have no problem with this. Sometimes these mothers don't know what's wrong with them, or their friends and family are just telling them they're just tired from being a new mom, and it's for sure most husbands aren't paying attention to this kind of thing. Someone has to start addressing this. This is why people have such a hard time getting "mental" health help. Because we all want to but a label on "mental"... why shouldn't we take care of that part of our bodies? A new mother will get an exam at 6 wks of her body... why not her state of mind too? It may save a lot of women's lives and their infants lives as well. How many babies deserve to die at their mothers hands for something that could be treated easily? On another angle, although I didn't have actually ppd, (post partum depression), I did have some "baby blues", and I do have a friend that

did have ppd with her 2nd child and had to have an anti depressant with her 3rd child because she had it really bad with her 2nd. She didn't do anything with her 2nd because she didn't know what to do. All she feels now is the guilt of not being able to enjoy her newborn baby at that time. She doesn't have happy memories of those first few months, she stopped breastfeeding because she didn't want the baby on her so much. She never hurt her baby, but she didn't fully enjoy her new baby either. I think that's sad because it could have been helped. There's a difference between checking a mom for ppd in the first few weeks after having a baby and giving a mental exam for mothers who have children failing in school. This guy is way off base here. After a birth there is a lot of medical things going on... your hormones go crazy. So how he's comparing it here is ridiculous. I will say that I feel a woman has a right

to decide if she wants to be on an anti depressant or not and should not be forced to have one unless it's an extreme situation and the baby's welfare is at risk. jmo Tonja121 <121 wrote: SSRI-Research@ Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:51:52 -0400[sSRI-Research] Mandatory Screening of Mothers in New Jersey- New Lawhttp://tinyurl.com/er32kThe Record (Bergen County, NJ) Circulation: 166,373April 20, 2006Regarding "Postpartum lifeline"I thought we lived in a free country.Now New Jersey has a law that requires a mother to have a mentalhealth exam after having a baby. What will be next: mental healthexams for mothers who have children failing in school, or

maybe whohave children who don't look like everyone else?New Jersey legislators need to take another look at this issue andconsider making the mental health exam optional. Do they think thatwomen can't think for themselves? Do they really think that a test"knows best" what is good for an individual?Government doesn't have the right to legislate what is "normal"behavior. I would like to see a return of more personal freedomsrather than the government mandating whether we are "mentally ill" or not.Bill Simpson ~*Tonja*~

April 26, 2006

No, Tonja you're not the only one - but my reply ended up elsewhere:

Although I would never believe that a public org. would do anything for thegood of the individual especially as a compulsory ruling - i have seen somany new mothers with post puerperal psychosis and also seen how simpletreatment makes life not only bearable for them but also for the family, thehusband and the new-born, that i think it is quite a good idea!Jane

-

~mom2tyntay~

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 10:13 PM

Re: law that requires a mother to have a mental health exam

I'm probably going to be the only one here... but as a mom of 2, I have no problem with this. Sometimes these mothers don't know what's wrong with them, or their friends and family are just telling them they're just tired from being a new mom, and it's for sure most husbands aren't paying attention to this kind of thing. Someone has to start addressing this.

This is why people have such a hard time getting "mental" health help. Because we all want to but a label on "mental"... why shouldn't we take care of that part of our bodies? A new mother will get an exam at 6 wks of her body... why not her state of mind too? It may save a lot of women's lives and their infants lives as well.

How many babies deserve to die at their mothers hands for something that could be treated easily?

On another angle, although I didn't have actually ppd, (post partum depression), I did have some "baby blues", and I do have a friend that did have ppd with her 2nd child and had to have an anti depressant with her 3rd child because she had it really bad with her 2nd. She didn't do anything with her 2nd because she didn't know what to do. All she feels now is the guilt of not being able to enjoy her newborn baby at that time. She doesn't have happy memories of those first few months, she stopped breastfeeding because she didn't want the baby on her so much. She never hurt her baby, but she didn't fully enjoy her new baby either. I think that's sad because it could have been helped.

There's a difference between checking a mom for ppd in the first few weeks after having a baby and giving a mental exam for mothers who have children failing in school. This guy is way off base here. After a birth there is a lot of medical things going on... your hormones go crazy. So how he's comparing it here is ridiculous.

I will say that I feel a woman has a right to decide if she wants to be on an anti depressant or not and should not be forced to have one unless it's an extreme situation and the baby's welfare is at risk.

jmo

Tonja121 <121 wrote:

SSRI-Research@ Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:51:52 -0400[sSRI-Research] Mandatory Screening of Mothers in New Jersey- New Lawhttp://tinyurl.com/er32kThe Record (Bergen County, NJ) Circulation: 166,373April 20, 2006Regarding "Postpartum lifeline"I thought we lived in a free country.Now New Jersey has a law that requires a mother to have a mentalhealth exam after having a baby. What will be next: mental healthexams for mothers who have children failing in school, or maybe whohave children who don't look like everyone else?New Jersey legislators need to take another look at this issue andconsider making the mental health exam optional. Do they think thatwomen can't think for themselves? Do they really think that a test"knows best" what is good for an individual?Government doesn't have the right to legislate what is "normal"behavior. I would like to see a return of more personal freedomsrather than the government mandating whether we are "mentally ill" or not.Bill Simpson

~*Tonja*~