Twitter Support for Post-Natal Depression Sufferers

Tuesday November 11 2014

Mothers and fathers looking for help with Post Natal Depression are now using social media to support each other through difficult times.

The hashtag #PNDHour is drawing people from all over the UK together between 8pm and 9pm every Wednesday evening on Twitter to chat through bad times, celebrate good times and help each other out.

Hosted by mother of three Rosey Wren from the Outer Hebrides, #PNDHour is proving an invaluable resource for individuals, charities and medical professionals to interact directly with each other.

Hannah Gordon, a psychology student with a special interest in pregnant women’s health, is a short-term intern with CrossReach, and as a way of raising awareness of ante & postnatal depression is representing CrossReach and its specialist PND services within the online group.

Hannah said: “It’s a super way to enable people to talk to and support each other – and with only 140 characters (the Twitter maximum) to use, they keep it short and direct.

“The finances associated with issues surrounding pregnancy and mental health and perinatal care are huge. The London School of Economics have estimated the known long term costs of perinatal mental health problems (per year) cost the UK in total £8.1billion.

“The report shows that if there were better facilities for pregnant women and new mums into place beforehand, including specialist nurses, mental health professionals and ways individuals could access help in a quick and efficient way, the cost has been worked out at around £337 million,” says Hannah. “That’s still a lot of money – but it’s an enormous saving on the amount we’re paying now.

“Geographically, service provision is very patchy. Some NHS trusts don’t even have specialist PND nurses in place.

“The people using #PNDHour are drawn from all over Britain and further afield. There’s one regular contributor who is based in the United States.”

The success of #PNDHour has led to a first birthday party being planned in Edinburgh in January.

CrossReach have specialist PND counselling, support and training services in the East and West of Scotland.

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