More than just post-natal depression

New research, published in Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, has been conducted into women’s experiences of postnatal mental health problems and the support they received for these.  The research consisted of in-depth interviews with 17 women who had a child under one and had experienced a postnatal mental health problem.  They found that the women felt they did not necessarily identify with the concept of postnatal depression and that other forms of emotional distress were not being recognized by the healthcare system. For example they reported a number of other postnatal mental health symptoms, such as tearfulness, anxiety, feelings of stress, isolation, loneliness and anger, which did not fit neatly into the category of “post natal depression”.

The researchers concluded that identification and recognition of symptoms and disorders other than postnatal depression needs to be improved. They suggest that awareness of multiple types of distress needs to be raised both for women experiencing such distress, and for healthcare professionals, to enable them to support women at this time. Their recommendation was for different approaches to assessment (that include the range of symptoms reported) to be piloted.

Read the research abstract here 

Read an RCM summary here