'We Didn't Know' — 3 Mothers, 3 Stories of Maternal Mental Health
Listen now
Description
Every year, 25 to 30 women in Sri Lanka commit suicide during pregnancy or within one year of delivery. According to Sri Lanka’s Maternal & Child Morbidity & Mortality Surveillance Unit, the country reported nearly 450 maternal suicides between 2002 and 2018. Despite these startling numbers, maternal mental health continues to be a hugely under-researched area of public health in Sri Lanka—we do not collect national-level data on perinatal mental health, and perinatal psychiatry is not a specialized field of study and training within the medical system. For the final episode of Season 2, I talked to 3 mothers about their experiences with maternal mental health. What emerged in our conversation was a clear and disturbing pattern: until we ourselves experienced postpartum mental health issues, we were completely ignorant of the range and severity of disorders, illnesses and conditions that can afflict women during pregnancy, childbirth and several years postpartum. As we each shared our personal stories, we realized that the lack of conversation, education and awareness around maternal mental health is as big of a barrier to mothers' wellbeing as the lack of medical training, support services and facilities dedicated to perinatal mental health. Links and Resources: Maternal Mental Health in Sri Lanka: Challenges and Solutions (Cambridge University Press, 2020) Antenatal depression in Sri Lanka: a qualitative study of public health midwives’ views and practices (BMC Medical Journal, 2022) Postpartum Support International Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders FACT SHEET A Lonely Struggle: 9 mothers around the world share the mental health challenges they faced during the 'happiest time of their lives' (CNN) Post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth (BMC Psychiatry, 2021)
More Episodes
Published 05/24/23
How many of us can say that our birth stories are truly our own? How many women in Sri Lanka can look back on their births and say, with absolute certainty, that their voices were heard, their choices were respected, their bodies were listened to, their needs were met, their consent was sought,...
Published 04/19/23
Radha and Serena first met on Zoom. Serena is a doula and Radha was her first client in Sri Lanka. They had a whole plan: to get Radha through an unmedicated labor, and a spontaneous vaginal delivery. When Radha’s waters broke ahead of schedule, they had to rethink their plan, reframe their...
Published 03/07/22