Postpartum Depression Glossary of Terms

1. Postpartum Depression Slideshow Pictures
2. Understanding Depression Pictures
3. Depression Tips Slideshow Pictures

American Psychiatric Association: A medical specialty society with over 35,000 US and inte...

Antidepressant: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Antidepressants: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Anxiety: A feeling of apprehension and fear, characterized by physical symptoms such as pa...

Anxiety disorder: A chronic condition characterized by an excessive and persistent sense o...

Baby blues: A common temporary psychological state right after childbirth when a new mothe...

Bipolar disorder: A mood disorder sometimes called manic-depressive illness or manic-depr...

Breastfeeding: Feeding a child human breast milk. According to the American Academy of Ped...

Chest: The area of the body located between the neck and the abdomen. The chest contains t...

Chest pain: Pain in the chest that can be a result of many things, including angina, heart...

Clinical depression: Depressed mood that meets the DSM-IV criteria for a depressive disord...

Cortisol: A metabolite of the primary stress hormone cortisone. Cortisol is an essential f...

Depression: An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way...

Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A ...

Dizziness: Painless head discomfort with many possible causes including disturbances of ...

Estrogen: A female steroid hormone that is produced by the ovaries and, in lesser amounts,...

Fatigue: A condition characterized by a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency ...

Fatty acids: Molecules that are long chains of lipid-carboxylic acid found in fats and oil...

Genetics: The scientific study of heredity. Genetics pertains to humans and all other orga...

Group therapy: 1) A type of psychiatric care in which several patients meet with one or m...

Gynecology: The branch of medicine that is particularly concerned with the health of the f...

Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. ...

Homicide: 1. The killing of a person. 2. Strictly speaking, the killing of a...

Hormone: A chemical substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activit...

Hormone therapy: Treatment of disease or symptoms with synthetic or naturally derived horm...

Indicate: In medicine, to make a treatment or procedure advisable because of a particular ...

Infant: A young baby, from birth to 12 months of age.

Iron: An essential mineral. Iron is necessary for the transport of oxygen (via hemoglobin ...

Lithium: A naturally occurring salt that, in purified form, is used to treat certain psych...

Major depression: A disease with certain characteristic signs and symptoms that interferes...

Medical history: 1. In clinical medicine, the patient's past and present which may ...

Miscarriage: Inadvertent loss of a pregnancy before the fetus is viable. A considerable pr...

Muscle: Muscle is the tissue of the body which primarily functions as a source of power. T...

Obstetrics: The art and science of managing pregnancy, labor, and the puerperium (the time...

Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pa...

Perinatal: Pertaining to the period immediately before and after birth. The perinatal peri...

Perineal: Pertaining to the perineum.

Pharmacy: A location where prescription medications are sold. A pharmacy is constantly sup...

Postpartum: The period just after delivery, as with postpartum depression. Postpartum refe...

Postpartum depression: A form of severe depression after delivery that interferes with dai...

Postpartum psychosis: A very serious mental illness that can affect a new mother. The epis...

PPD: 1. Postpartum depression. 2. Purified protein derivative (the PPD skin ...

Pregnancy: The state of carrying a developing embryo or fetus within the female body. Thi...

Pregnant: The state of carrying a developing fetus within the body.

Premenstrual: Just before the start of menstruation. As in a premenstrual headache.

Premenstrual syndrome: A combination of physical and mood disturbances that occur in the l...

Prenatal: Occurring or existing before birth.

Probability: The likelihood that something will happen. For example, a probability of less...

Progesterone: A female hormone, the principal hormone that prepares the uterus to receive ...

Prognosis: The forecast of the probable outcome or course of a disease; the patient's chan...

Psychiatric: Pertaining to or within the purview of psychiatry, the medical specialty conc...

Psychiatry: The medical specialty that is concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, and tr...

Psychosis: In the general sense, a mental illness that markedly interferes with a person'...

Psychotherapy: The treatment of a behavior disorders, mental illness, or any other conditi...

Rejection: In transplantation biology, when the body's immune system attacks transplanted ...

Shortness of breath: Difficulty in breathing. Medically referred to as dyspnea. Shortness ...

Sleep: The body's rest cycle.

Soothing: Bringing comfort, solace, reassurance, peace, composure, quietude.

Stillbirth: The birth of a dead baby, the delivery of a fetus that has died before birth f...

Stress: In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional fact...

Suicidal: Pertaining to suicide. the taking of ones own life. As in a suicidal gesture, su...

Syndrome: A combination of symptoms and signs that together represent a disease process.

Therapy: The treatment of disease. Therapy is synonymous with treatment.

Thyroid: 1. The thyroid gland. Also, pertaining to the thyroid gland. 2. A p...

Tired: A feeling of a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency of accomplishment,...

Viable: Capable of life. For example, a viable premature baby is one who is able to surviv...

Vitamins: The word "vitamin" was coined in 1911 by the Warsaw-born biochemist Casimir Funk...

Weight loss: Weight loss is a decrease in body weight resulting from either voluntary (die...