What are the risk factors that influence the onset of perinatal mental health problems?

Perinatal is the time from when a woman becomes pregnant until a year after she gives birth. Although there is a lot of focus on post-natal depression in women - and sometimes men - very many women experience mental health issues during pregnancy too. Why?

Mother and child. Motherhood is a joy for many women, but many also suffer mental health issues during pregnancy and after a child is born. Source: Photo by by ECohen/Creative Commons

Research shows that there are risk factors that have a role in the development of perinatal mental health problems.  To mark Perinatal Mental Health Week 2020, Cesa Septiana Pratiwi, a midwife and Midwifery lecturer at Aisyyah University in Jogyakarta explains the domains in which those risks occur and why perinatal depression may be difficult to counter.

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