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Voices of Hope and Healing: Parental Mental Health Peer Support Program for New York Families
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, including postpartum depression (PMADs), are the most frequent complication related to childbearing and a leading cause of maternal mortality in New York State.1 PMADs affect up to 20% of birthing persons and new mothers. Also, up to 13% of fathers may...
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The Silent Struggles of Fertility: Understanding the Emotional Toll
When a woman embarks on the journey of fertility care, she enters a world filled with hope, uncertainty, and an emotional burden not always perceptible to others. The medical procedures and clinical visits are only part of the experience—behind closed doors, many face silent struggles that take a...
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Supporting Maternal Mental Health and Reducing Stigma: A Clinical Perspective
Becoming a mother is a beautiful and rewarding experience, but it comes with a set of challenges that often go unrecognized. Maternal mental health is a critical dimension of perinatal care that is often overlooked amid the focus on the physical aspect of pregnancy. During the perinatal period,...
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Addressing the Stigma of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
When I had my son in 2024, I had more than a few medical professionals warn me that due to my anxiety pre-pregnancy, I was at greater risk for developing a perinatal mood disorder (PMD), specifically postpartum anxiety (PPA) and/or postpartum depression (PPD). I was warned to contact someone if I...
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Addressing America’s Silent Crisis: Maternal Mental Health
Maternal mental health in the U.S. is in crisis. Despite advancements in medicine and growing awareness around mental health, the emotional well-being of mothers has quietly deteriorated. This is particularly true during pregnancy and after childbirth. A recent study published in JAMA...
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“I Should Be Able to Handle This”: How Internalized Stigma Silences Moms
There’s a shared assumption in health care that if we make services more accessible, patients will use them. It’s the foundation of many well-intentioned interventions: Add depression screening to the six-week postpartum visit, embed a therapist in the OB/GYN clinic, expand access through...
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NYSPA Report – Biomarkers for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders: A Way to Reduce Stigma
The numbers are so depressing. The United States has the worst maternal mortality of any developed country, with a racial disparity that is shocking.[1] Mental health conditions are one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related death – in some places, THE leading cause.[2] We do a dismal job of...
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Voice and Identity: Daughters and Sons of Parents with Psychiatric Experiences
Parenting with a mental health condition is common, yet widely unsupported. The following statistics may surprise you: according to Joanne Nicholson of Brandeis and Kate Beibel at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, 68% of women and 57% of men with diagnosed psychiatric disorders are...
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Findings from New York State’s Report on Postpartum Depression Screening
Postpartum depression (PPD)—the most common perinatal mood and anxiety disorder—is a debilitating condition affecting at least one in eight people who give birth. PPD is more than just the “baby blues.” It is a more severe mood disorder that can last for many months. PPD may impair a...
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Dismantling Structural Stigmatization Through Organizational Transparency, Accountability, and Leadership
In the Summer 2022 edition of Behavioral Health News, my colleague, Jayden Carr, BS, and I wrote an article reviewing the most common forms of stigmatization and their negative effects on people with mental illness and substance use disorders (MI/SUD). The term “stigmatization” rather than...
