Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month

#MATERNALMHMATTERS

Each May we celebrate mothers- new moms, adoptive moms, biological moms, surrogate moms, and those individuals experiencing illness, infertility, and/or loss. The holiday is widely marketed and talked about for weeks or months leading up to the day.  The focus often revolves around flowers, chocolates, gifts, vacations, and ways for mom to engage in a much-needed moment of self-care. However, a topic rarely discussed, is that of maternal mental health. 

Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) may develop regardless of age, socioeconomic status, number of children, and may develop during pregnancy or after childbirth, impacting 1 in 5 pregnant and postpartum women*, while up to 20 percent of women will experience clinical depression, and 15 percent will develop anxiety*. Many mothers will experience symptoms after weaning a child, adopting a child, or after a miscarriage or stillbirth, which is often minimized or overlooked.  Additionally, birth trauma/postpartum post-traumatic stress impacts at least 3.1 percent of women*. 

Know that anyone experiencing PMAD is not alone. Mammas WE SEE YOU! You are strong, powerful, competent, resilient, worthy, and YOU ARE ENOUGH.  So, this May and Mother’s Day, while you are buying gifts (which are really awesome) and making plans, don’t forget to check-in with a mama-the new mama, the soon-to-be mama, the hope-to-be one day mama, and the mama unable to hold her baby in her arms.  Your mental health matters.  

Learn more about perinatal mental health or contact us.

Resources for Those Experiencing PMAD

• Postpartum Support International (PSI)

• The BlueDot Project

• The Shades of Blue Project

Helpful Reading

• Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers, by Karen Kleiman

• The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality, by Kimberly Ann Johnson

• This Isn’t What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression, by Karen Kleiman

• The Postnatal Depletion Cure, by Dr. Oscar Serrallach

• I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, A Movement, by Jessica Zucker

• Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy, Everybody, Every Body, by Angela Garbes

*Statistics obtained from TheBlueDotProject.Org