Women’s Issues

Maternal mental health was not always on the minds of many of the people who provide behavioral health services in our country as an issue that needed to be addressed. The worldview has shifted by the year 2020, and the mental health of mothers (and parents in general, more generally) is becoming increasingly important to the community working in behavioral health. Women who are pregnant, new mothers, or experienced mothers are having their mental health disorders investigated by a growing number of healthcare providers, who are also investigating how the mothers’ mental health affects that of their children. According to the World Health Organization, approximately ten percent of women who are pregnant and thirteen percent of women who have recently given birth experience a mental disorder, the most common of which is depression. This results in an inability to properly function and affects the growth and development of their children. The following is a list of some of the most common types and causes of maternal mental health disorders, as well as how the management of one or more of those disorders can affect a child. Mental health disorders commonly observed in mothers. Depression /postpartum depression. Most mothers around the world struggle with depression, making it the most prevalent mental health problem related to motherhood. Although many mothers will suffer from depression at some point in their lives, postpartum depression is the form that affects new mothers more frequently than any other. After giving birth, up to eighty percent of women will experience postpartum depression in some form or another. Weepiness, impatience, irritability, restlessness, fatigue, insomnia, sadness, intrusive thoughts, or an inability to stay focused are some of the symptoms of this maternal mental health disorder. Anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are yet another typical problem with a parent’s mental [...]