1. I want every pregnant and postpartum woman to have all the information needed to recognize if she is suffering from a mental illness related to childbirth, such as postpartum depression.
2. I want to eliminate all stigma associated with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders so that women feel safe in asking questions and reaching out for treatment.
3. I want every pregnant or postpartum woman to have access to the best treatment resources available so that she recovers quickly should she experience a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder, and so that neither she nor her child are affected in the long-term by her illness.
Katherine Stone is a nationally-recognized, award-winning advocate for women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
In 2001, she suffered postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder after the birth of her first child. The feeling of isolation and shame she suffered inspired her to create the blog Postpartum Progress, which has become the most widely-read blog in the United States on postpartum depression, postpartum OCD, postpartum anxiety, antepartum (during pregnancy) depression, postpartum PTSD and postpartum psychosis. Because of this work, Katherine Stone was chosen by WebMD as one of its four 2008 Health Heroes.
Postpartum Progress (http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com) was selected as one of the top 10 depression blogs by Psych Central in 2007 and 2008, is listed at Alltop Health, and was also named one of the top 10 mental health blogs on the web at Blogs.com. It was also selected as a favorite mental health blog by McMan's Depression & Bipolar Web, and is listed as one of 40 Superb Psychology Blogs at Psyblog.
Stone has served as guest editor on the topic of postpartum depression at BlogHer (www.blogher.com), the world's top community for and guide to blogs by women. She currently is on the board of directors of Postpartum Support International (www.postpartum.net), and the advisory board of the Georgia Postpartum Support Network and the Perinatal Depression Information Network.
Her media appearances include being featured prominently on Time Inc.'s Health.com site in the postpartum depression area of its Depression section, and as a featured voice on "BORN", a documentary about the postpartum experience in America distributed by Public Radio International. She has been featured in Newsweek magazine, WebMD the Magazine, CNN's Access Health Network, and on www.womenshealth.gov, a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website.
