Women are reluctant to seek help for perinatal distress, finds UK study

A fear of being seen as a “bad mother,” failure to recognise or articulate a problem, and a belief that health professionals focus on the health of babies rather than mothers can all dissuade women from seeking help for perinatal psychological distress, a review of UK primary care research studies has found.1

“Psychological distress and problems are common in pregnant women and new months, but very few women access treatment,” said the review authors, led by Suzanne Lee, from the School of Health Sciences at City, University of London (formerly City University). To explore why, the authors analysed 24 qualitative studies on women’s …