I’m writing this post, 8 years to the day of when I convened our first call with stakeholders (learn more about why this first call was held, and why I raised my hand to lead it, on the video at the top of our About 2020 Mom page.)

Recalling Our Journey

I heard over and over again that providers needed more training, and universal screening was a must. This made sense, though what I wanted to understand was why women weren’t already being screened, diagnosed and treated.

I began my quest for knowledge. I combed through research (which was difficult to consolidate, and often contradictory) and struggled to find answers.

Here are the articles that caught our founder Joy Burkhard’s eye in recent weeks. If you have had direct experience with the topic covered on any of these articles please share your insight by adding a comment below.

What It Feels Like To Be In Psychosis

I was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder with psychotic features when I was 25 years old. My mental health journey unraveled my life to the point where I nearly died. An entire year, spanning most of 2005, drove me entirely out of reality. It remains extremely difficult to explain how something called “psychosis” has affected my brain.

Most people understand psychosis to be seeing, hearing and believing things that are not real. Simple. However, it is not easy to explain what being in psychosis feels like...

In July 2019, the California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) Agency, Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced how it would support health plan compliance with the US Preventive Services Task Force assessment of sufficient evidence and recommendation to screen and treat to prevent maternal depression. Read more here.

Other states are likely developing similar positions to provide clarity to Medicaid health plans and screening and treating providers on how services should be billed and covered.

Common and Costly Expenditures Associated with the Birth of Children in 2017 Amount to More than $14 Billion

If you ask people what they think the most common medical complication is during and after childbirth, you probably won’t hear mental health issues. Yet maternal mental health (MMH) disorders — including prenatal and postpartum depression and anxiety — top the list, affecting at least one in seven women. In addition to the substantial human toll of these conditions, they come with a hefty price tag, especially because women who have them often go untreated.

Below are the news articles that caught my eye this month. Use the comments feature below to share you thoughts with me.

AHRQ Stats: Depression Screening

Though the US Preventive Service Task Force has recommended depression screening in adults since 2009, fewer than half of all Americans ages 35 and older were screened for depression in 2015, according to the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. Read it here.

Here are my favorite articles since I last shared “What I’m Reading.” Note, I’m eager to get your thoughts on any of these articles, but particularly interested in your opinions about the three articles at the bottom; are you having problems with insurers? Let us know in the comments below.

Pregnancy Specific Anxiety Impacts How Long Women Breastfeed

New research published in June links anxiety and breastfeeding, a link moms have long been sharing concerns about. Read it here.