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     After-birth Depression Blamed for Woman’s Suicide 
     A new mother apparently suffering from postpartum mental illness fell to her death from a narrow 12th-floor ledge of a Chicago hotel, eluding the lunging grasp of firemen called to help. 
     The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that the mother of a 3-month-old daughter, Melanie Stokes, 41, was said to be suffering from a severe form of after-birth depression called postpartum psychosis, an extremely rare biological response to rapidly changing hormonal levels that can result in hallucinations, delusions, severe insomnia and a drastic departure from reality. 
     “That was a monster in my daughter’s brain,” said Stokes’ mother, Carol Blocker. “The medicine took no effect at all, while her grief was so strong that nothing could make up for it. I’m just glad she didn’t take her daughter with her.” 
Virtually all new mothers get postpartum blues, also called the “baby blues”, which are brief episodes of irritability, moodiness and weepiness. About 20 per cent of birthing women experience postpartum depression, which can be triggered by hormonal changes, sleeplessness and the pressures of being a new mother. It is often temporary and highly treatable. 
     But The Tribune said what scientists suspect Stokes was battling, postpartum psychosis, is even more extreme and is considered a psychiatric emergency. During postpartum psychosis—a very real disorder that affects less than 1 percent of women, according to the National Institute of Mental Health—a mother might hear voices, have visions, feel extremely agitated and be at risk of harming the child or herself. 
     Often the consequences are tragic. In 1987, Sheryl Masip of California told a judge that postpartum psychosis made her drive a Volvo over her 6-week-old son. Latrena Pixley of Washington, D. C., said the disorder was why she smothered her 6-week-old daughter in 1992. And last year, Judy Kirby, a 31-year-old Indianapolis mother allegedly suffering from postpartum psychosis, sped into oncoming traffic and plowed into a minivan, killing seven youngsters, including three of the own.

1. Which of the following is NOT a symptom of postpartum psychosis?
  A. Visions.                                           
  B. Delusions.
  C. Inflamed breast.                                
  D. Serious sleeplessness.

2. It was considered fortunate by Stokes’ mother in the miserable event
  A. that Stokes had died in a Chicago hotel.
  B. that firemen had been called to help Stokes.
  C. that Stokes had been taking the prescribed medicines.
  D. that Stokes had not taken her daughter with her.

3. A patient suffering from “baby blues” may present briefly one or more of the following symptoms EXCEPT
  A. having an intention of suicide.
  B. readily becoming impatient or angry.
  C. easily changing her moods.
  D. tending to experience weeping and sadness.

4. How many bearing women have experiences of after-birth depression?
  A. Virtually all of them.                             
  B. About one fifth of them.
  C. Less than one percent of them.            
  D. Not mentioned exactly in the passage.

5. Who induced the most serious consequence among the postpartum depression patients mentioned in the passage?
  A. Melanie Stokes of Chicago.                      
  B. Sheryl Masip of California.
  C. Latrena Pixley of Washington, D.C.    
  D. Judy Kirby of Indianapolis.