Maternal Mental Health Is More Than Just Postpartum Depression
When people talk about maternal mental health, they often picture a mother crying while holding a newborn.
But the truth is, mental health struggles don’t wait until the baby arrives—and they don’t always look like sadness. For many, symptoms begin during pregnancy. For others, they show up as rage, panic, numbness, or an overwhelming sense of inadequacy.
Maternal mental health is a spectrum—and it deserves more attention, more compassion, and more support.
The Full Picture: It Starts Before Birth
Up to 1 in 5 people will experience a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder (PMAD)—and that includes conditions that begin during pregnancy, not just after birth. In fact, up to 20% of birthing people experience depression while pregnant, and anxiety in pregnancy is often underdiagnosed because it’s dismissed as “normal worry.”
Other maternal mental health conditions include:
Postpartum anxiety
Postpartum OCD (often with distressing intrusive thoughts)
Postpartum rage (sudden, intense anger that feels out of character)
Postpartum PTSD (often from birth trauma or prior abuse)
Postpartum psychosis (rare but serious, requiring immediate care)
Read how IVF and postpartum depression intersect—even for mental health professionals.
Who Is Most at Risk?
While anyone can experience a PMAD, certain groups are at higher risk, including:
People with a personal or family history of mental health conditions
Those who experienced infertility, miscarriage, or stillbirth
Parents of medically fragile or NICU babies
Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, who face systemic racism and barriers in healthcare
LGBTQ+ parents navigating invisibility and discrimination
Those living with financial stress, housing instability, or limited support
Risk is not about weakness—it’s about lived experience, and how our systems fail to respond.
For many women—especially in West African and other collectivist cultures—unspoken expectations passed down in mother-daughter relationships can deepen feelings of guilt and isolation. These inherited patterns are part of the maternal mental health story too.
Why It Often Goes Untreated
Despite how common PMADs are, 75% of those affected don’t receive treatment. Why?
Because maternal mental health struggles don’t always look like what we’ve been told to expect. They’re not just tears and sadness—they’re regret, shame, guilt, and a quiet wondering:
Did I make a mistake? Am I cut out for this?
Many parents feel blindsided by the gap between how they thought they’d feel and how they actually do.
And yet, these emotions are often met with:
“It’s just the hormones.”
“You should be grateful.”
“At least the baby is healthy.”
These responses minimize pain and reinforce silence. On top of that, real barriers stand in the way of care:
Fear of being judged or seen as a “bad parent”
Lack of access to culturally affirming, trauma-informed providers
OBs and pediatricians who screen inconsistently—or don’t know what to do when a screen is positive
For more on this, read our post on navigating guilt as a parent.
What Maternal Mental Health Care Looks Like
At Resilient Roots Counseling, we support the whole person—not just the parent role. That includes:
Therapy during pregnancy and postpartum
Space to talk about the hard, often unspoken feelings—like resentment toward a partner, regret about becoming a parent, or mourning the version of yourself before kids
Gently unpacking the shame that says you’re ungrateful, or the guilt that creeps in when you admit: “I love my baby, but I don’t love this.”
Validating the rage, anxiety, exhaustion, and disconnection that too many parents carry in silence
Culturally affirming, trauma-informed care that honors the complexity of your identity and your story
Meet the therapists who walk this journey with you.
You Are Not Alone
If something doesn’t feel right—if you’re anxious, angry, disconnected, or scared—you deserve support. Not later. Now.
Explore our therapy services, or join our Bringing Baby Home workshop this June to connect with other parents, gain tools, and support.
You are not broken.
You are not alone.
And healing is always possible.
