Perinatal mental health: why it should be on your radar

Perinatal mental health problems cover a wide range of conditions, including antenatal and/or postnatal depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, postpartum psychosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).1 Around one in five women will experience mental health problems during or after pregnancy and 70% will hide or underplay the severity of their illness.1 Pregnancy is a major life event, and it is natural that women will experience many different emotions. But for some women the perimental period during pregnancy, and in the year after giving birth, those emotions may include persistent anxiety, feelings of not being able to cope, and that they