This document discusses perinatal mental health, which refers to a woman's mental health during pregnancy and the first year after birth. It can include pre-existing mental illnesses, or illnesses that develop during pregnancy or postpartum. Examples provided are postpartum depression, anxiety, OCD, postpartum psychosis, and PTSD. Risk factors are outlined. It is estimated that 20% of women are affected by a perinatal mental illness, with 1 in 10 developing postpartum depression. The impacts on emotional wellbeing, bonding with the baby, and long-term child development are discussed. Support resources are provided at the end.

1. Hey, lets talk about
perinatal mental health
Emma Jane Sasaru
Birth Trauma Trust and Perinatal Mental Health Network
Loving Baby

2. What is Perinatal mental?
• Perinatal mental health refers to a woman’s mental
health/wellbeing during pregnancy and the first year after
birth. This includes mental illness existing before she becomes
pregnant, or that develops for the first time in pregnancy, or in
the postnatal period after birth.
• Examples of perinatal mental illness include antenatal
depression, postnatal depression, anxiety, perinatal
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), postpartum psychosis
and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These illnesses can
be mild, moderate or severe, requiring different kinds of care
or treatment.

3. Womenfromallpartsofsocietycanbeaffectedby
PerinatalMentalIllness
Factors associated with increased risk of perinatal mental
illness
• Pervious history/ family history of mental illness
• lone parent
• Poor family relationships
• low levels of social support
• recent adverse or stressful life events
• socio-economic disadvantage
• teenage pregnancy
• early emotional trauma/childhood abuse
• unwanted pregnancy

4. Estimated
numbers
nationally
of women
affected by
Perinatal
Mental Health
NSPCC

5. 20% women

6. 1/10 women develop PND

7. Women can be affected by their
birth experience.
40% report traumatic birth

8. Suicide is the
biggest cause
of death for
women during
pregnancy and
first year after
birth.
Centre for Mental Health

9. Asking for help can be hard

10. Didn’t know who could help

11. Families worry about stigma

14. Cost Implications
Centre for Mental Health

15. Costs apply to both mother and
baby

16. Dads/ Partners suffer too

17. We must do
better?

18. Signs of PND
• a persistent feeling of sadness and low mood
• lack of enjoyment and loss of interest in the wider world
• lack of energy and feeling tired all the time
• trouble sleeping at night and feeling sleepy during the
day
• difficulty bonding with your baby
• withdrawing from contact with other people
• problems concentrating and making decisions
• frightening thoughts – for example, about hurting your
baby

19. Signs of Postpartum Psychosis
• Excited, elated, or ‘high’.
• Depressed, anxious, confused, excessively irritable or
changeable in mood, loss of touch with reality (mania)
• Strange beliefs that could not be true (delusions).
• Hearing, seeing, feeling or smelling things that are not there
(hallucinations).
• Being excessively more talkative, sociable.
• Having a very busy mind or racing thoughts.
• Feeling very energetic and like ‘super-mum’ or agitated and
restless.
• Having trouble sleeping, or not feeling the need to sleep.
• Behaving in a way that is out of character or out of control.
• Feeling paranoid or suspicious of people’s motives.
• Feeling that things are connected in special ways or that

20. Perinatal PTSD
• Feelings of intense fear, helplessness and/or terror.
• Re-experiencing of the event by intrusive memories,
flashbacks and/or nightmares.
• The individual will usually feel distressed, anxious or panicky
when exposed to anything, which remind them of the event.
• Avoidance of anything that reminds them of the trauma. This
can include talking about it, the place where the trauma
happened or people that may have been involved in the
trauma. (such as hospitals, doctors, healthcare professionals)
• Difficulties with sleeping, concentrating and daily activities.
• Feeling angry, irritable or hyper-vigilant or jumpy and easily
startled.
• Panic attacks, anxiety and depression.
• They may feel detached, alone and have a sense of something
bad may happen to them or their loved ones at any time.

21. Impact of Perinatal Mental
Health
• Emotional wellbeing of the whole family.
• Bonding, attachment, feeding and caring for
baby, day to day life.
• Relationships partner, wider family and friends.
• Infant brain development/long term issues for
child emotionally/ behaviorally
• Life threatening
• Impacts other services acute, primary, public.
• Cost of perinatal mental health UK each year
£8.1 Billion

22. My Girls
and Me
• Mental Health can
affect anyone
• No previous mental
health issues
• Unable to access
support
• Impact is
devastating and
long lasting

23. Video

24. What did you struggle with?
“However pragmatic
you are, it is very
demanding being a
new parent.”
Robert Winston

25. We all need to work together to
support families
Maternal mental health alliance

26. What can you do?
Think of ways in your role you can support families.
Compassion
Stigma
Awareness
Support
Signpost
ing
Information
Safeguarding
Kindness
Listen

28. Support Matters
Unfold your
Wings

29. Resources
• Perinatal Mental Health Toolkit -
http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-
research/toolkits/perinatal-mental-health-toolkit.aspx
• Maternal Mental Health Alliance -
http://maternalmentalhealthalliance.org/
• Centre for Mental Health -
https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/maternal-mental-
health
• Everyone’s Business - http://everyonesbusiness.org.uk/
• MIND -http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-
everyday-living/parenting-with-a-mental-health-
problem/#.WJDrq7aLSb8

30. Families Matter
Loving Baby

31. Thank You
Emma Jane Sasaru
BirthTraumaTrust.org
Unfoldyourwings.co.uk
Perinatal Mental Health Network
Follow me on Twitter:
@ESasaruNHS @unfoldURwings @PNMHnetwork
Facebook: unfoldyourwings / birthtraumatrust
LovingBabyLtd