Postpartum Depression Demystified

Joyce A. Venis, RNC is a Psychiatric Registered Nurse and the president of Depression After Delivery, Inc. With over 30 years of nursing experience, Venis is a nationally recognized figure and highly regarded for her work and clinical expertise in pregnancy, postpartum, PMS, perimenopause, and menopause. Venis is founder and director of the Princeton Area D.A.D., Inc. PPD support group. She also started the first PMS support group in New Jersey, which continues today as the Women’s Support Group at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Venis lectures extensively (at venues including Harvard and Fordham universities), has been on multiple television and radios shows, including Geraldo, Oxygen, and Lifetime, and was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in American Nursing. She has been interviewed for various publications including Newsweek, the Chicago Sun, Parenting, Parents, American Baby, and Jet. She has testified before Congress, participated in the formulation of a state resolution, and was an instrumental witness for a PPD case in New Jersey. Perhaps, most notably in this context, she is a PPD survivor. Her son, Mark, is now 35 years old and is affectionately called the “PMS/PPD Poster Child.” Her plight took her through 22 different healthcare modalities during her PPD. “There is no reason for anyone to suffer as I did…that is why I do what I do. It was meant to be.” Besides her son Mark, Ms. Venis has three stepdaughters, and four grandchildren. She lives in northern New Jersey. Suzanne McCloskey was until January 2006 an editor at Marlowe & Company, where she acquired and edited many books on health, psychology, relationships, and parenting, including, in the Demystified series, Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified. She lives in Westchester County, NY.