Frequently Asked Questions

PMAD or PMH disorders are one in the same. PMHD can occur during pregnancy, postpartum and up to a year postpartum, sometimes beyond. They are found throughout all cultures, ethnicities, ages, and at any income level.  You may have heard about the baby blues which happens within a few days to 2 weeks postpartum. PMHD is more than just baby blues which go away on their own. PMHD are symptoms that are worsening or interfering with your daily life and requires the help of a medical professional. PMH disorders include depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), bipolar, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychosis. 

Postpartum depression: 1 in 5 moms and 1 in 10 dads 

Anxiety: 15-21% of pregnant women; approximately 10% of new dads

Postpartum PTSD: 9% of women

Psychosis: 1-2 in 1,000 women

OCD: approximately 7%-11% of new moms 

Bipolar: 22% of depressed postpartum women are suffering from bipolar depression. 

In Michigan, 23,000 families are afflicted with PMAD yearly.

In 2017 - in approximately 3.8 million U.S. births, 443,383 women suffered from PMAD, with total societal cost for untreated PMAD at $14.2 billion. 

YES! There are health professionals called psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists that can provide the help you need. They may prescribe you a medication and/or psychotherapy. 

Call your OB/GYN or primary care doctor for more information.  If it is a mental health crisis (medical emergency), please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.   

Postpartum Support International (PSI) is an excellent resource for help, guidance, and online resources        

Visit https://www.postpartum.net/ for more information. 

1-800-944-4773  #1 en Espanol or #2 for English

Text "Help" to 800-944-4773    Text en Espanol: 971-203-7773

You are not alone and you are not to blame. Help is available. You will get better. (PSI)

National Maternal Mental Health Hotline (US only)

1-833-852-6262                 https://mchb.hrsa.gov/national-maternal-mental-health-hotline

988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline        OR         911

Often a mom will not disclose her symptoms in fear that the people around her will think that she is going to harm her baby, or is not capable of being a mother. Many moms will associate postpartum depression or anxiety, with the news stories where we see postpartum psychosis, which affects 0.1% - 0.2% of new mothers. 

Postpartum. anxiety and depression are much more common and prevalent, affecting 1 in 5 new mom's. Many of these mom's are hyperaware of any harm coming to her baby, and why she may experience increased anxiety and OCD related to the safety of her baby. We are not hearing about it enough as there is still so much shame in mom's disclosing. Even though we know anxiety and depression after pregnancy is the number one complication of childbirth. 

• Increased anxiety about having a baby is normal, but it is a major source of stress, so some people develop anxiety during this time.
• Feelings of responsibility for the unborn or newborn baby.
• Research shows that it is normal to have strange unwanted thoughts about stressful events.
• Thinking upsetting thoughts about your baby seems like the worst possible thing to think about—and OCD feeds off of these kinds of thoughts because these are the exact kinds of thoughts that you try very hard to control, dismiss, or fight. But this is how OCD plays a nasty trick—the more you try to use strategies for fighting thoughts, the more they backfire, and the more you get caught in OCD’s web of obsessing over and over. (Do an experiment: try not to think of a pink elephant!).
• Compulsions are performed because they reduce anxiety over obsessional thoughts about the newborn, but these don’t work well in the long run—they just lead to more obsessing.