Pregnancy and Post-natal Mental Health

Pregnancy and the first year after giving birth (the ‘perinatal’ period) can be an emotional time. Some people have a very positive experience of becoming a parent, but many of us struggle at some point in the journey.

If you are the parent who is pregnant, or who gave birth, these are just a few of the things that you might have been dealing with:

• massive hormone changes
• fears about birth
• lack of sleep
• your body shape and size changing
• feeling overwhelmed by your responsibility for your baby
• other people’s ideas about how you should look after your body and your baby
• comparing your experience of pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood to how you imagined it would be.

It is normal for your mood be up and down and to worry more when you are pregnant or have a new baby. If you have been feeling like this for a while though, or it has been affecting your life in a serious way, you should visit your doctor.

Post-natal (sometimes called post-partum) depression, anxiety, and obsessions and compulsions are all treatable mental health conditions, they are not you, and they do not mean that you are a bad parent. You can visit some of our other pages to find out more about depression, anxiety, or obsessions and compulsions.

You might resonate with the mum’s sharing their experiences in this video from Mind:

Birth trauma

Giving birth is one of the most incredible things that your body could ever go through.

Sadly, sometimes giving birth can also be a traumatic experience. This can happen, for example, if there were complications with the birth and you had to have an intervention like an emergency c-section, or if either you or your baby were very unwell during/after the birth, or if the birth caused injuries to either you or your baby.

This can be a really difficult time and it’s important to reach out for support if you need it. Support could be from a loved one or a professional, just remember that you are not alone. You can find out more and links to support on our trauma and post-traumatic stress page.

Post-partum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis is a rare condition, which usually starts within the first few weeks after giving birth and it can be very serious.

If someone in your family has had post-partum psychosis, or if you have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, it is more likely that you could develop post-partum psychosis. Talk to your GP or midwife, and together you can make a plan to manage it if it did happen.

If you think you might have post-partum psychosis, it’s important that you get help as soon as possible.

The video below from Channel 4 Documentaries tells just one story about post-partum psychosis and shows how people can recover with the right help. Trigger warning: this video contains strong language and distressing content: