The Perinatal Project: Mental Health Advocacy for Mothers: Pilot study suggests that short-term phone counseling helpful to women after miscarriage

A small pilot study published in the August '06 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that something as simple as 6 sessions of telephone counseling can ease women's symptoms of depression after a miscarriage.

In this study, phone counseling was offered to women who had suffered a miscarriage and were experiencing "subsyndromal" depression - i.e., less severe than major clinical depression, but responsible for significant symptoms like trouble sleeping, chronic low energy, overeating or lack of appetite, and "blue" feelings of hopelessness.

What's so great about findings that phone-based counseling benefits some women is that this method of delivering mental health care overcomes some of the biggest challenges to getting help - such as reluctance to meet with a therapist face-to-face or trouble scheduling appointments during regular office hours.

The other exciting suggestion from this (admittedly small, and therefore limited) study: Most of the participants were Hispanic and many were on Medicaid. The findings that these women were helped by phone counseling suggest that this approach may be an effective way to reach out to women who have been traditionally under-served.

Past research has shown that women who suffer a miscarriage are at risk not only of major depression, but of the considerably more common subsyndromal depression, as well - So this is a need yet to be fully addressed by the healthcare system and by advocates interested in women's and family health.

The abstract of this study is not available online to non-subscribers, but Reuters Health did a story summarizing the methodology, findings, and implications for follow-up. Click here to read it.