Transitioning to motherhood: Perinatal mental healthTransitioning to motherhood: Perinatal mental health
All In The Mind
Pregnancy and early parenthood is an exciting and rewarding time — but for many families, it brings about unexpected challenges. In Australia, one in five expecting or new mums will experience anxiety or depression, some experience both. What's being done to support women as they transition to motherhood?
29:06•11 Nov 2018
Transitioning to Motherhood and Protecting Mental Health
Episode Overview
- Anxiety and depression are at least as common during pregnancy as after birth, making pregnancy a key risk period for mental health problems.
- History of mental illness or childhood trauma significantly increases the likelihood of perinatal anxiety and depression.
- High levels of untreated maternal anxiety and depression can affect fetal development, infant attachment and long‑term emotional outcomes.
- Routine screening and trauma‑informed, continuous care in pregnancy can identify women at risk early and reduce negative outcomes.
- Supportive care, practical therapies and letting go of unrealistic expectations of being a “super mum” can help mothers recover and bond with their babies.
“If you feel blue or down or anxious in any way, don't be afraid. Go speak to somebody.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This instalment of All In The Mind looks at a different, but deeply related, topic: how mental health is affected by the shift into motherhood, and why that matters so much for families. Host Lynne Malcolm talks with new mum Katie, who has lived with anxiety and depression since before pregnancy.
Katie shares how a late pregnancy, financial stress, grief, workplace bullying and fears about being “a good enough mother” all piled up. As she puts it bluntly, “I just basically in the end learnt the housekeeping can wait.
As long as my child's happy and fed, she's not going to remember a messy house later on.” Perinatal mental health specialists Professor Julie Jameen and Professor Mari Paul Austin explain that anxiety and depression during pregnancy are at least as common as after birth, and sometimes higher.
They describe pregnancy as a “risk period”, especially for women with a history of mental health problems, childhood trauma or bipolar disorder, and stress that causes are usually a mix of social pressures, lack of support, exhaustion and, for some, biology. Listeners hear about intense fears of childbirth (tocophobia), the impact of adverse childhood experiences, and how emotional dysregulation can resurface when someone moves from being “someone’s child to someone’s parent”.
The episode also outlines how screening tools, trauma‑informed care and therapies such as dialectical behaviour therapy can support women before and after birth. Katie’s story finishes on a hopeful note: with specialist support in a mother and baby unit, she bonds strongly with her daughter and now advocates for other women. Her message is simple and direct: “If you feel blue or down or anxious in any way, don't be afraid.
Go speak to somebody.” If pregnancy, parenthood, or recovery from alcohol and other struggles are part of your life, this conversation might help you feel less alone and more ready to ask for help.
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.