Reflections on the notion of post-natal depression following examination of the scoring pattern of women on the EPDS during pregnancy and in the post-natal period.

The scoring pattern of case-positive women on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was explored over the antenatal and post-natal period. Individual analysis of EPDS scores over the antenatal and post-natal period revealed a picture of depressive symptom reporting inconsistent with the notion of a distinct and separate entity of post-natal depression. A fundamental assumption that post-natal depression has a typical pattern of comparatively higher post-natal depressive symptomology may be illusory when individual symptom profiles are explored.