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. These are just a few of the things that the parent who is pregnant, or who gave birth, might be dealing with:

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

It is normal for someone’s mood be up and down and to worry more when they are pregnant or have a new baby.

If someone you care about has been feeling like this for a while though, or it has been affecting their life in a serious way, encourage them to talk about how they are feeling, and support them to visit their doctor.

Post-natal (sometimes called post-partum) depression, anxiety, and obsessions and compulsions are all treatable mental health conditions, and they do not mean that someone is a bad parent. Find out more on our pages for depression, anxiety, or obsessions and compulsions (hyperlinks to ‘depression’, ‘anxiety’, and ‘obsessions and compulsions’ tiles).

This video from Mind might help you to understand some of the common thoughts and feelings that can come up with post-natal mental health and how the right help and support could help your loved one:

Birth trauma

Giving birth is one of the most incredible things that the human 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 the person you care about had to have an intervention, like an emergency c-section, or if either they or their baby were very unwell during/after the birth, or if the birth caused injuries to either them or their baby.

Loved ones can also be affected by the traumatic experience, especially birthing partners (partners, friends or family members who were there at the birth) who can experience birth trauma too.

This can be a really difficult time and it’s important to reach out for support if you or a loved one needs it, or you can offer support to someone who you know is struggling. You can find out more about trauma and find links to support on our trauma and post-traumatic stress page (hyperlink to ‘trauma and post-traumatic stress’ tile).

Post-partum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis is a rare condition, which usually starts within the first few weeks after giving birth and can be very serious. If someone who is pregnant has a family member who has had post-partum psychosis, or if the pregnant person has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, it is more likely that they could develop post-partum psychosis.

Encourage them to talk to their GP or midwife, who will be able to make a plan with them to manage it if it did happen.

If you think someone you care about might have post-partum psychosis, it’s important that you get help for them as soon as possible. You can find out more and find links to support on our psychosis page (hyperlink to ‘psychosis’ tile).

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: