Perinatal Mental Health Maths

Many professionals fail to see the connection between traumatic perinatal events (pregnancy and baby loss, difficult IVF journeys, NICU stays, birth trauma et el) and the more entrenched mental health problems (anxiety disorders, addictions and OCD) that follow when trauma symtoms go untreated.

Here are some statistics you might find surprising:

·      1 in 5 parents experiences perinatal anxiety.

·      Depending on what study is used between 10% and 20% of parents experience perinatal depression.

·      30% of all parents describe their birth as traumatic and anywhere between 4% and 9% of parents go on to meet the criteria for PTSD, depending on which study is cited.

·      Sadly 13 babies die every day (2023 statistic) in the UK. This kind of loss and grief is traumatic and often parents are left to cope alone.

·      Additionally, according to RCOG numbers, 6% of first-time mothers experience 3rd or 4th degree tears. This kind of injury will always impact on the individual’s mental and emotional health because of the devastating changes that it brings to their life.

·      One in 7 couples will experience problems trying to conceive. In the UK in 2023 there were 77,500 IVF cycles. This process is notoriously stressful, pressurised and sadly often marked by loss and grief.

·      Using the 2024 UK birth rate of 594,677 that equates to 118,935 parents struggling to cope with perinatal anxiety, and at least 59,467 parents dragged down by depression, 178,403 parents surviving with trauma symptoms, 35,680 women impacted by a devastating, life changing birth injury.

That is potentially a HUGE 392,485 parents struggling with their mental and emotional health and wellbeing at a time when optimum health and wellbeing are required to recover, bond, feed and nurture their babies.

After a birth injury left her with postnatal depression Marie said:

‘‘I hadn’t done it right, I felt like a complete immense failure, I think an awful lot of me does blame myself for what happened. If I had done this, or done that…’

Jo said after an IVF miscarriage during lockdown:

‘I couldn’t believe that they were so uncaring, dismissive and completely oblivious to how traumatising their ‘care’ was. I still think about that day now a year on and the panic comes rushing back.’

Alison struggled to adapt after a lengthy NICU experience with a premmie baby. She said:

‘I can’t get out of my mind that she nearly died. I am supposed to return to work next month but the thought of leaving her in a germ ridden nursery makes me feel sick with fear.’

These are just a few of the conversations I have had with parents recently.

There are so many other voices that tell stories of trauma, struggle and the pain of trying to cope with early parenting whilst experiencing grief, anxiety, low mood or trauma symptoms.

Birth trauma gets a lot of media attention, and even a fair few parliamentary reviews.

It’s true that birth trauma does impact a lot of parents.

However, it is just the tip of the iceberg when we are talking about perinatal mental health.

The biggest threat to parents mental health is the lack of appropriately trained therapists and practitioners able to support the key issues impacting perinatal mental health.

The key issues are; perinatal trauma, perinatal anxiety and depression and grief and loss.

I believe that this life stage brings many unique challenges to mental health and any therapeutic support needs to be able to quickly, safely and effectively lift trauma symptoms (this happens in just 3 sessions with TBR 3 Step Rewind).

Support needs to include practical interventions that parents can use after the therapy hour has finished, this is why we record our practical exercises for parents to use afterwards.

Very often parents are experiencing distress mentally but they are also living through a difficult set of circumstances; poorly baby, long recovery from birth injury, reflux, sleep deprivation to name a few very common ones.

I love it when TBR practitioners support parents mental health because often they can support the difficult situation too.

Needless to say parents love being supported this way to.

There is still time to register for this AW25 FREE training 'How to safely support traumatised parents'

It's happening Thursday 30th October at 7pm GMT. Follow the link to register your place.

If you have already taken this training and are ready for the next step then take a look at the online and in person training TBR 3 Step Rewind.

This course is on sale now with a 20% discount until the 14th November.

Payment plans have returned for this period only and with the discount code AW2025 you can start learning today for just £90.