Parenthood

First Perinatal Psychiatry Clinic Launches in North Carolina

It's a first of its kind clinic, formed to help pregnant women and new mothers cope with depression and other mood disorders.

A new inpatient clinic that can help women who are pregnant or just gave birth to cope with mood disorders has opened at the University of North Carolina.  And many women’s health advocates are hoping this is the first of many.

Via Ms. Magazine:

On Monday, UNC’s Center for Women’s Mood Disorders launched as the first free-standing, inpatient perinatal psychiatry unit in the country. Before this week, if you were a pregnant woman or new mother who had such severe depression or psychosis that you required overnight hospitalization, there was no place in this country for you to go. Nowhere.

Granted, there are a number of fantastic specialized perinatal psychiatry treatment programs in the U.S. that provide incredible services, and the people there who are dedicating their lives to the mental health of perinatal women should be recognized and celebrated. However, almost all of these specialized treatment facilities are outpatient programs. Overnight inpatient care, even the one previously run by UNC, mixes perinatal women with other mental health patients.  They’re put on the same wards as people suffering from dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, drug addiction and other mental illnesses.

We don’t talk openly about depression as a society, especially not pre and postpartum depression, both of which hit a large number of mothers.  I hid my own symptoms for as long as I could until I was finally forced to talk to my doctor to begin treating it.

For me, medicine and therapy alone have been a turning point in getting me back on the road to better mental health.  But for others, it may not be enough, and clinics like this will help women find their own well-being without pressure or causing greater emotional harm.