Dr. Rachel Buhagiar, a psychiatrist who works in the field of perinatal mental health services in Malta, discusses the common mental health issues that women may face during and after pregnancy. Watch the full interview.
Debbie Atanasio, a Parent-Infant Mental Health Alliance service-user representative and trainee systematic family therapist, discusses how her experience with post-partum psychosis inspired her to help other women.
Watch the full interview to learn more about Debbie’s online support group, which she co-founded with two other mothers within PIMHA.
Ethel Felice, Consultant Psychiatrist and President of the Parent-Infant Mental Health Alliance, discusses the fundamentals of providing an effective service that will encourage both mothers and fathers suffering from mental illnesses to seek help.
Dawn Cannon, Director of the Warwick Infant and Family Wellbeing Unit, and Dr Maddalena Miele, Consultant in Perinatal Psychiatry, both accredited trainers in the parent infant interaction observation scale, led a two-day training session for the Parent-Infant Mental Health Alliance. Learning how to assess the quality of the parent-infant relationship was one of the learning outcomes.
Meet Daniela, who has an 8-year-old daughter and is now pregnant. She is currently feeling overwhelmed with current life stresses and is also feeling encroached in her own home as there is little time for herself. She is feeling disconnected and cannot come to terms with the pregnancy. Luckily, Daniela finds help through Parent-Infant Mental Health Alliance, a voluntary organisation which brings together healthcare professionals to whom women and their partners can talk to. They explain that Perinatal Depression is a mood disorder that can affect women during pregnancy and after childbirth. Speak up you are not alone. Talk to your Doctor or Healthcare Professional. Feelings Are Not Facts.
Perinatal depression is a mood disorder which can be triggered by various everyday psychosocial stressors. It can affect women during pregnancy and after childbirth, regardless of age, race, income, culture, or education. Mothers with perinatal depression can experience feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety, and fatigue that may make it difficult for them to carry out daily tasks, including caring for themselves or others.
Many mothers fear that this is their fault, that nobody will understand them and that they are alone. PIMHA is a voluntary organisation that can provide support in several different ways.
Parent-Infant Mental Health Alliance is a voluntary organisation which brings together healthcare professionals, whom women and their partners can talk to, about their mental health and who can provide support in several different ways.
They offer different treatment options to help improve the mother’s mental wellbeing, her level of functionality her baby and family members.
During these unprecedented times having to juggle work, housework and her daughter, Daniela has trouble feeling connecting with her developing baby. She often finds herself crying and is overwhelmed by this situation.
It is estimated that about 20% of expecting mothers or women who have just given birth, suffer from mental health disorders. 75% of whom will not seek help!
Juggling life’s many hurdles can be overwhelming, from meeting job expectations and tending to family issues, expecting mothers might start to question themselves, whether they will be an adequate mother? Or whether anyone will be able to understand the issues they are facing?
Luckily, there is help! Through the support offered by Parent-Infant Mental Health Alliance
What is perinatal mental health?
Perinatal mental illness refers to any mental health condition affecting the mood, behaviour, wellbeing and/or daily functioning of an expecting or new parent. The term ‘perinatal’ refers to the time from conception and pregnancy through to the first year after birth. “Antenatal’ refers to the pregnancy period up until the birth. ‘Postnatal’ refers to the first year after birth.
1 in 5 expecting or new mothers and 1 in 10 expecting or new fathers will experience perinatal anxiety and/or depression symptoms. Other perinatal mental illnesses like postnatal psychosis are less common than anxiety or depression, but all perinatal mental illnesses respond well to treatment and there’s strong hope for recovery. Left untreated, perinatal mental illnesses can have long lasting impact on parents, partners, babies and families, and therefore timely detection and treatment is fundamental.
Key to the early access of effective mental health support is to be able to recognise the signs of not coping and to find the courage to ask for help.