In the United States, 1 in 5 women suffer from a mental health disorder in the months before or after giving birth - and the vast majority of them never get care. To better understand why this is happening, I interviewed mothers like Allison Livingston, who experienced severe anxiety during and after her pregnancy. She told me, "I felt so guilty for … having these scary thoughts of harm. I felt like I didn't deserve to enjoy anything. I felt like this is just the way my life is going to be from now on, anxious and unhappy."
You can read more about Allison's experience and the toll of maternal mental illness in my December AAMCNews story.
It also provides perspectives from experts and educators who are working to train primary care providers to better recognize and treat maternal mental health conditions. There are some promising solutions too, like the collaborative care model in which behavioral health clinicians are embedded in primary care practices, as well as state-funded consultation lines that give primary care providers ready access to clinical guidance from maternal mental health experts.
Do you have a novel or successful maternal mental health program at your institution? We'd love to hear about it-comment on this post to share. We also welcome related story ideas for future AAMCNews articles. What maternal health or mental health issues would you like to see us cover next?
May is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month. The AAMC is committed to working with member institutions and other collaborators to highlight and educate around the successes and challenges in improving maternal mental health outcomes through clinical interventions and care models. Each Monday our team will share relevant resources, and we hope you will share your own institutions' experiences and resources.
Check out last week's post for more maternal mental health resources: https://communities.aamc.org/discussion/resources-on-maternal-mental-health. Thanks for sharing @Nailah Russell!
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Stacy Weiner
Senior Staff Writer
Association of American Medical Colleges
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