The invisible face of pregnancy and postpartum: one in every 16 women experiences serious depression

Our collective imagination paints pregnancy and the postpartum period as an idyllic time, forever flush with happiness, no matter the circumstances. No other scenario is even considered. But reality is often much more complicated, its difficulties rendered invisible. There can be joy and excitement, but the period can also involve fits of crying with no apparent cause, sadness, anxiety and a feeling of emptiness that, on occasion, can be a precursor to serious mental health issues. A study published Thursday in The Lancet Psychiatry journal offers statistics related to serious depression in the peripartum period — which runs through pregnancy, and up to one year after childbirth — concluding that at least one in every 16 women suffers from major depressive disorder during that time. The most critical phase is two weeks after birth, during which there is the highest risk of experiencing the mental health condition.

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