the PSA blog.
Articles (or my 3am musings) to empower you to understand and navigate the world of perinatal mental ill health
Let’s not forget about bipolar disorder in motherhood.
When you think about maternal mental health, does bipolar disorder even come to mind? Pregnancy and postpartum include an increased vulnerability to the onset (or recurrence) of bipolar disorder, yet screening in antenatal and postnatal settings tends to only focus on depression. This is a missed opportunity, meaning BD remains underdetected and undertreated in the perinatal period.
More than postpartum: mental health in pregnancy.
As the host and founder of Perinatal Stories Australia, I have the honour of interviewing mothers about what is often the hardest time of their life, during what is supposed to be the best time of their life. Something I hear far too often is how the symptoms of mental ill health in pregnancy were largely ignored - even by mothers themselves. It's just hormones, right? Maybe birth anxiety? This will all go away when the baby is here... won't it? And yet as a society and in health circles, the focus is usually only on postpartum. This needs to change.
Why is Mother-Centric Care Important?
Mother-centric care involves care from health and support providers who value the health, decisions, and needs of the mother.
Contrary to what some might have us believe, mother-centric does NOT mean we don’t value what’s best for our child/children.
To me, it simply means we aren’t putting the mother last.
Postpartum Planning: what is it and why does it matter?
What is postpartum planning?
Whether you formalise it or not, or use a postpartum planning service, a postpartum plan is any decision made to protect yourself, and your family, in the days, weeks, or even months, following birth. And we need to be talking more about this prior to birth.
Why does postpartum planning even matter?
Postpartum planning matters because YOU matter. It’s as simple as that. You - your health, your sleep, your nutrition, all of it - matters. And establishing support ahead of time can be crucial.
![SPREAD FACTS NOT SENSATIONALISM.
It’s Pregnancy and Postpartum Psychosis Awareness Day, an illness that affects 1-2 in every 1000 after birth.
Unfortunately, our collective understanding of postpartum psychosis is still incomplete [1].
Psych](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61c1739fa162e70aaeba2585/1714709848474-ZV726J7P5CZANF12SOWI/image-asset.jpeg)
