More Than a Third of Mothers Experience Experience Parenting-Related Mental Health Problems

Nothing will change the whole world and turn your life upside-down like becoming a parent. In many ways, that’s a good thing. But it’s also difficult, frustrating, and emotionally and physically exhausting. Children are great, but parenting is not all sunshine and gummy baby smiles. It’s really, really difficult. And a lot of parents experience mental health problems due to parenting.

Parenting-related mental health issues did not get talked about a lot in the past. People have started coming forward more to talk about it lately, and that’s extremely helpful. Sometimes people feel ashamed, or weak, or like they don’t have anyone they can talk to. But it’s possible to get help. The more people talk about it, the more people will know that they have options.

More than one-third of mothers say they’ve experienced parenting-related mental health problems.

According to Romper, a new survey indicates that more than a third of mothers have experienced mental health problems related to parenting. Some of the issues people described included acute stress, severe anxiety, and postpartum depression.

The survey also included fathers, and 17 percent of the fathers who responded said they experienced those kinds of issues.

Fortunately, more than two-thirds of the affected mothers said they sought professional help. That still leaves a ton of people who are not getting treatment that could help them feel a lot better, though.

A lot of suffering parents think, “This is just what parenting feels like.”

One of the toughest things about postpartum depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems that manifest after delivery, is that people don’t necessarily know they have them. Becoming a parent is a huge thing. It changes virtually every aspect of a person’s life. And with all that upheaval going on, a lot of people think, “This is just what normal is now. This is what it feels like to be a parent. I’m just going to have to feel like this forever.”

Being a parent is difficult in a lot of ways, but it shouldn’t feel awful all the time. If it does, something might be medically wrong, and it could be fixable. Mental health problems are nothing to be ashamed of. Postpartum depression and anxiety don’t mean you’ve done anything wrong, and they affect huge numbers of people every day.

(Image: iStockPhoto / CreativaImages)