The course of depressive symptoms over time for women who completed drug treatment.

The purpose of the present study was to (a) describe the trend in depressive symptoms in a sample of postpartum women who used cocaine and who completed drug treatment; and (b) to examine possible correlates of those trends including treatment type and selected pretreatment characteristics. Self-reported levels of depressive symptoms improved from treatment entry to discharge and remained relatively stable through three postdischarge follow-up points. Baseline level of depression was the only pretreatment factor that was correlated with the trend in depressive symptoms. And length of time in treatment, previous drug treatment, and baseline severity of drug use were not.