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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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Overcome Stigma with Resources for Support, Rejection, and Accommodations
Mental illness stigma might mean folks inappropriately assume someone living with a mental health condition is dangerous, incapable, or socially undesirable. When those negative attitudes translate into harmful actions, the results can be devastating. Stigma often leads to friends or family pulling...
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Reframing Residential Treatment: Preventing Family Separation and Supporting Women with Substance Use Disorders
According to the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 70.5 million people used illicit drugs in the past year, and 48.5 million of them met the criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD). In 2022, 32.6 million women reported illicit drug use, and while men have historically shown higher...
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From Silence to Support: Changing the Story on Maternal Mental Health
When I became a mother, I was prepared for a momentous life change. What I did not anticipate was the impact that pregnancy and postpartum could have on my mental health, in addition to my physical recovery. After giving birth to my first daughter, I dismissed my stress and sensitivity as the...
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From Silence to Support: How Doula Care Can Destigmatize Maternal Mental Health
Motherhood is often framed using this narrative of a “strong mother”—of self-sacrifice, resilience, perseverance, and unwavering devotion. They are expected to give endlessly, to find joy in every sleepless night, and to cope quietly with the unexpected realities of their new identity. While...
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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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Confronting Mental Health Stigma in Maternal Care
Mental health stigma—those persistent negative attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes about mental illness—remains a powerful barrier to care. When these perceptions translate into actions in our society, they become discrimination, and this limits opportunities for healing. Even though mental...
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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...
