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.