Perinatal Positivity uses the real voices and experiences of women and men who have had mental wellbeing difficulties around the time of pregnancy, childbirth and beyond. We hope it will help you emotionally prepare and find support, if needed, at this time. There are translations and subtitled versions of the film on our films page.
Perinatal mental health issues can happen in pregnancy and in the first years of being a parent (antenatal and postnatal). Problems can affect new mums as well as dads, people with no history of mental health problems as well as those who have. The word perinatal simply means the time around (peri) childbirth (natal).
Issues might include depression, anxiety, OCD, psychosis and post-traumatic stress amongst other things. Tommy’s (pregnancy health information for parents) has an excellent guide: https://www.tommys.org
If you, or someone you are close to, is experiencing mental wellbeing problems connected to pregnancy and being a new parent, talk to your GP, health visitor or midwife and visit our support page to find local and national support organisations. Parents talk about the signs & symptoms they experienced in the video below.
