Carol Blocker holds a portrait of her only daughter, Melaine Stokes, who suffered from postpartum psychosis and in 2001 committed suicide three months after giving birth to her first child. Defender/Wendell Hutson
A grieving mother said a new federal bill she helped to be created and get passed may be too late to save her daughter, but at least now it will provide help to other mothers suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Nine years ago, Carol Blocker’s daughter, Melanie Stokes, committed suicide at age 40 by jumping from a 12th floor North Side hotel window. Stokes, who suffered from postpartum psychosis, had just given birth three months before her death to her first child, Sommer.
In March President Barack Obama signed the historic health care reform act which also included the Melanie Blocker Stokes Mom’s Opportunity To Access Health, Education, Research and Support for Postpartum Depression Act.
In short, the bill provides funding to organizations working with mothers suffering from postpartum depression and funds for further research, said U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-1st, who spearheaded the legislation through Congress.
The goal of the bill, Rush said, is to make sure there is help available to all women suffering from postpartum depression.
“This legislation mandates that the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services allocate resources for increased research for postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis as well as the implementation of a national public awareness campaign to better inform women and their families of symptoms and treatment options,” Rush said.
The act also is designed to let new mothers know that help is available and they don’t have to be ashamed to utilize it.
“Simply put, I hope this law, once and for all, lets every woman of child bearing age know that she doesn’t have to suffer in silence from postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis,” the congressman said. “I hope this bill eliminates any remnants of stigma or shame as both conditions are treatable and curable.”
Also, a Web site, www.melaniebattle.org, was created by Blocker to highlight Stokes’ life as a loving daughter, mother and wife while also educating women about the dangers of postpartum depression and psychosis.
“My Melanie is gone but her memory lives on through this bill and for that I am grateful,” Blocker told the Defender. “There are so many women suffering from depression after the birth of their baby and up until now there was little help available.”
Prior to Stokes’ death Blocker said her daughter would often complain about not being a good mother and how it seemed as though her baby did not like her because the baby cried often when Stokes was around but not so much around others.
“She would avoid the baby. She did not want to hold her or be around her at all because she felt she was a bad mother,” said Blocker, who had her daughter evaluated by three different doctors. “Each one said nothing was wrong with her but obviously they were wrong,” she said.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender.
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