Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders: Barriers to Treatment

Abstract

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are a common occurrence for women from the time of conception throughout the first year of their children’s lives. However, often this disorder goes undetected and mothers’ do not seek treatment, citing the existence of many systemic barriers that both prevent and deter them from reaching out for help and support. This study sought to explore the phenomenon of professionals’ experience in working with women dealing with PMADs and to identify these barriers to treatment mothers’ typically experience. Through a depth psychological lens, utilizing a descriptive phenomenological approach, five professional clinicians who have experience in providing mental health services to mothers’ with PMADs were interviewed to gain a better insight into the barriers women with PMADs encounter. The data revealed five superordinate themes associated with barriers to treatment for women with PMADs that included stigma, mothers’ fear of child welfare and protection agencies’, cultural awareness, screening and identification, and accessibility to resources. Ideas on how to ameliorate these barriers were discussed, with special focus on how to improve relations between mothers’ with PMADs and child welfare and protection agencies’.