Emotional and mental health support during pregnancy and the first year after having a baby

This leaflet provides information about anxiety and depression services provided by the NHS through their local IAPT services (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies), and by PANDAS (a charity that offers hope, empathy and signposting for parents from conception through to birth and beyond).

1. NHS IAPT Services

Having a baby can be joyful, exciting and rewarding. However, it is also common for pregnant women and new mothers or fathers to experience anxiety, depression or emotional distress.

As many as one in five women experience emotional difficulties during pregnancy and in the first year after their baby’s birth. This can happen to anyone.

Every London borough has an IAPT service which offers free, confidential talking therapy for people who have symptoms of anxiety or depression.

They give priority to pregnant women and new parents.

It is common for pregnant women and new parents to experience:

• Low mood, sadness and tearfulness
• Anxiety, worry and tension
• Irritability and anger
• Difficult or unexpected feelings towards your pregnancy or baby
• Poor sleep even when your baby sleeps well
• Feeling unable to cope or enjoy anything
• Thoughts that you are not a good enough parent
• Worrying thoughts about your baby
• Anxiety about labour or struggling to come to terms with a difficult labour.

Asking for help

It can be difficult to talk about how you are feeling and ask for help. Common reasons for this are:

• You may not know what is wrong
• You may feel ashamed that you are not enjoying your baby or coping as you believe you should
• You may worry that your baby will be taken away.

Struggling emotionally at this time can happen to anyone. It is not your fault.

Asking for help doesn’t mean you can’t cope or are not able to care for your child. It’s the start of getting the right help and support to ensure you can be the parent you want to be. It is very rare for babies to be taken away from parents, so you should not worry about this.

How an IAPT service can help you

IAPT offers short-term talking therapy to give you space to talk.

The types of therapy offered will vary depending on your local IAPT service. These may include guided self-help sessions with a therapist, cognitive behaviour therapy, couples therapy and counselling.

How to contact IAPT

You can refer yourself to IAPT by phoning your local service directly. Contact details for all London services can be found at:

Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) – NHS Services London England UK – find local help now!

You may find it hard to contact us yourself. In this case, ask your midwife, health visitor, friends or a family member to help you make that first call. Your GP can also make the referral.

We know that pregnancy and the first year of your baby’s birth is a very important time. We will offer you an assessment and treatment as soon as possible.

What to expect when you contact IAPT

When you first telephone you will be asked for some brief details.

A time will be arranged for you to speak to one of the therapists. This appointment will be booked as soon as possible, usually within a few days.

The first appointment is to find out about your current difficulties. This helps us decide how we can best help you. At the end of the appointment, we will discuss the support options available and agree a plan.

All IAPT services aim to be flexible. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to get the help you need. You can often bring your baby to sessions if you want to. Services usually offer you a choice of locations for your appointment, sometimes in antenatal clinics or children’s centres.

2. PANDAS – help for families

PANDAS is a charity that offer hope, empathy and support for any parent affected by perinatal mental illness.

For more information about PANDAS support services, please follow the link below:

Home – PANDAS Foundation UK

Contacts

PANDAS Helpline

0808 1961 776 info@pandasfoundation.org.uk