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Perinatal Mental Health(2ndEdition): The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) Manual. Edited by John Cox, Jenny Holden and Carol Henshaw (242pp.; ISBN 978-1-909726-13-0). RCPsych Publications: London, 2014.

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Perinatal Mental Health(2ndEdition): The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) Manual. Edited by John Cox, Jenny Holden and Carol Henshaw (242pp.; ISBN 978-1-909726-13-0). RCPsych Publications: London, 2014.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2014

Anthony Mccarthy
Anthony Mccarthy*
Affiliation:
Consultant Psychiatrist, National Maternity Hospital Holles Str Dublin 2, Ireland (Email: amccarthy@nmh.ie)
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Type
Book Reviews
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 369
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2014 

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is a scale that is extensively used throughout the world both as a screening instrument and as a validated research tool. This second edition of the book gives clear instructions on use of the EPDS. It also gives an overview of the symptoms of Postnatal Depression, its diagnosis, aetiology and management. It has a very useful chapter on the EPDS in clinical settings.

The authors make it clear that the EPDS should not be used by health professionals as a tick box exercise and emphasise that professionals need to be trained in the nature, detection and treatment of perinatal depression, in understanding the experiences of women and in developing listening skills so that they can elicit and respond to psychological issues. These include how to respond if women disclose suicidal ideation. There are reminders to service managers as well as to clinicians that health professionals including midwives and health visitors will need support to do this work.

The authors recommend the book for psychologists, psychiatrists, health visitors, midwives, family doctors, obstetricians and community psychiatric nurses plus researchers in perinatal mental health.

There are 213 pages in the book. Appendix 2 takes up 112 pages and comprises the EPDS itself and the EPDS scoring sheet translated into 57 other languages. If the forward to the book , the prefaces to the first and second editions, the pages of references, the index, and the 112 page Appendix are discounted, then what is left is quite a small book. It provides a good overall introduction to the subject, details on the scale itself and the scoring sheet and so will be very useful for those doing research in the area. However, for psychiatrists it also gives very good advice to professionals on the clinical limitations of the EPDS.

‘The EPDS is clearly not a magic wand to be distributed for compulsory use without training. Alone, it is just a piece of paper, a checklist. Combined with training in prevention, detection, and treatment however, it becomes an important part of an effective programme’.

Professionals seeking more in-depth knowledge on postnatal depression and other perinatal issues will need to look elsewhere.