‘Avenue of hope’: New treatment being tested in Worcester shows promise for postpartum depression

WORCESTER, Mass. — For some women, postpartum depression can cast a long shadow over what they thought would be the happiest time of their life.

“I should be happy, why am I not happy?”, said Shalea Niles of Dorchester as she described how she felt after the birth of her third child. “It kind of put me in a space where it was depressive. . . and it’s been an up and down battle.”

“It could be like mourning,” she explained. “You might feel very sad about the person you were before, and that you can’t be that right at this moment in time because you have a baby and things have changed. Your lifestyle has automatically changed.”

Those feelings can be compounded by the physical strain of childbirth and the hormonal fluctuations that follow.

“Postpartum depression and baby blues are very different,” explained Dr. Tiffany Moore Simas, the chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester. “Baby blues usually happen in those first two weeks following a delivery. If they extend beyond two weeks, then we get more concerned about postpartum depression.”

A recent study out of the University of Texas examined mental health data of new mothers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

It was found at nine months postpartum, American women reported the lowest depression scores, while British moms posted the worst.

But after that period, the positions flipped, and American women reported the highest rates of depression.

“I know we like to think we have the best medical care in the world, but you know, some of the countries that you’re talking about have much better paid family medical leave policies, right? We, in some cases, have some paid family medical leave, but it’s relatively short,” said Dr Moore Simas.

Niles added, “A lot of moms have given birth and then they automatically want to stay home with their child, and that’s not usually an opportunity for a lot of mothers. A lot of mothers have to still go right back into the workforce.”

Dr. Kimberly Yonkers, the chair of the psychiatry department at the UMass Chan Medical School, doesn’t think postpartum depression gets the attention it really deserves.

The medical school in Worcester is just one of four sites in the country running clinical trials on a promising new treatment for postpartum depression.

“There is an assumption that whatever works for depression will work for postpartum depression. And that may be the case, but it may not be the case.”

The new treatment is called Saint Neuromodulation Therapy and was created by Magnus Medical.

It uses transcranial magnetic stimulation in a very targeted and precise way.

Dr. Yonkers explained how it works: It’s a one-week treatment. But it’s intensive. Every day, they get 10 treatments. And when we look at the outcomes for this, it’s roughly equivalent to the most effective treatment in psychiatry for depression, which is electroconvulsive treatment, or ECT.”

Other plusses are the fact that it doesn’t require any drugs which could present a concern for breast feeding.

It’s also painless and requires no anesthesia.

“For people who have been suffering, who maybe even didn’t realize that they’re having as difficult a time as they are having, it can very much be a new avenue of hope.”

Hope for a mother, and for an entire family.

“A mother with an untreated mental health condition or an inadequately treated mental health condition is actually considered an adverse childhood experience for that offspring. And so, it can affect the development of the offspring, both in the short and the long term,” said Dr. Moore Simas.

Shalia Niles now works with new moms as a postpartum doula, hoping she can help other women avoid some of the trials she faced.

“It’s the American way that’s making women not be able to heal as properly as they should. And I hope that changes.”

Everyone Boston 25 News spoke with emphasized how important it is to get appropriate help promptly.

Dr. Moore Simas says mental health conditions during pregnancy and postpartum are the leading cause of maternal mortality.

The clinical trial is actively recruiting patients.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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