Pregnancy is also comes with protecting women from depression and other mental illnesses. Today, health professionals understand that the hormonal, emotional, financial and social changes associated with pregnancy and birth carry their own unique risks and treatment needs. The term “perinatal depression,” referring to a period that encompasses both pregnancy and the weeks and months following birth is becoming more common as a way to acknowledge that these symptoms can also arise before birth, not just after.
Researchers are finding that mental health concerns such as stress, anxiety, and depression are, as noted in a 2024 review paper, “the most common complications of pregnancy.” Globally, around one in five women experience perinatal depression. Among a study of 11 wealthy nations, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate. Nearly one-quarter of pregnancy-related deaths are caused by mental health conditions, even though 80 percent of these losses are preventable, according to the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health.
The pregnant individual is not the only person affected. It has long been known by doctors that a mother’s well-being is strongly linked to her baby’s. This is why physicians recommend prenatal vitamins, regular exercise and the avoidance of certain foods for pregnant individuals. However, recent studies show that a mother’s mental well-being is also a significant predictor of her children’s future physical, mental and behavioral health. Women with mental illness are more likely to experience serious delivery issues such as preeclampsia, preterm birth and small birth size. Significant maternal stress—whether it reaches the level of a diagnosable illness or not—impairs fetal brain development and can lead to long-term cognitive, behavioral and learning problems in offspring.
“Depression or stress or anxiety, this unpleasant, negative state in pregnancy, whatever we choose to call it, has negative effects on the fetus and on the brain and perhaps on the whole epigenetic milieu of the fetus”
Stated by Katherine Wisner, associate chief of perinatal mental health at the Developing Brain Institute, a research facility connected to Children’s National Hospital in Washington. It focused on brain development in utero and in newborns.