Maternal Mental Health & Mortality
According to data from Psychology Today (online post from April 28, 2023),
“Research demonstrates the potential for physical and emotional impacts (of maternal mental health cause negative effects) on infants as well as impaired mother-infant bonding. Perhaps the most startling and disturbing data is related to maternal mortality. In the U.S., the maternal mortality rate is more than twice that of most other developed countries.”
And the majority of suicides or overdose deaths in new mothers are due to a lack of mental health screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
Prenatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) is the newest terminology for what was once branded as Postpartum Depression and occurs when baby blues symptoms last beyond a two- to three-week period following birth, becoming worse or beginning to interfere with everyday living. It can even begin during pregnancy itself and can include any or several of the following: perinatal depression, perinatal anxiety, perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder, perinatal psychosis, bipolar mood disorder, and perinatal or postpartum PTSD. As many as 1 in every 5 women can be affected by PMAD.
As healthcare providers, family, and friends of pregnant and new mothers, what are the symptoms we should be vigilant about?
- Feelings of sadness, being disconnected from others, including the baby, hopelessness or low self-worth, anger, irritability, or edginess
- Difficulty coping, sleeping too little or too much
- Changes in appetite or weight fluctuations beyond what is expected for pregnancy or postpartum
- Loss of interest or pleasure in activities that typically bring joy
- Thoughts of harm to self and others, including baby
Screening is paramount to identifying, treating, and destigmatizing any mental health issues, and all pregnant and postpartum women should be screened at each healthcare visit, whether by a physician, nurse, lactation consultant, or counselor. The U.S. needs to reduce it’s very preventable mortality rate NOW.
Kathy
