Even though the world is scary, out there, and there’s a lot of unknowns, we live in the safest world there has ever been in history, people are living the longest they have ever lived in history, there’s all these advances to keep us around, and to keep us safe. Yet, there is still so much fear and anxiety out there. And Mama’s Daily Dose is… there’s an epidemic amongst moms. Let’s get moving. Before we get interrupted.
Raise your hand, if you have felt more fear and anxiety since becoming a mom. Over here, I’m raising my hand up high. And that that’s an evolution thing, right? That’s to keep us alive. That’s to keep humans to keep going. If we didn’t have fear and anxiety, we would be stepping in front of buses, and trains, jumping off buildings, because we are not fearful that something’s going to happen to us. We would think we’re going to be around for everything. So this fear does serve a purpose. However, in moms today, it’s this all consuming fear that creates this intense, intense anxiety. Day in and day out.
There’s some crazy statistics that I am going to share with you these statistics really paint a picture of how much anxiety really can take over a mom and parents lives in general:
About 15 to 20% of women experience mood disorders before or after birth. So that’s about one in five moms.
In 2016, there was a study done at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK. And it found that 68% of women, and 57% of men that have mental health problems are parents.
And this statistic is crazy, because mental health not only affects your well being, but also the well being of the economy and culture and society as a whole. And a 2014 study called the “Costs of Perinatal Mental Health Problems,” found that during the perinatal period, which includes before and after birth, mental health problems carry a total economic and social long term costs to society of 8.1 billion euros. That’s $8.74 billion. For each year of the birth in just the UK, alone. The US has about five times as many people as the UK. So if you take that into account, you’re looking somewhere around $40 billion per year, it is costing our economy and our society, because parents have mental health issues. These statistics are showing that it really is an epidemic for moms and parents in general, that these mental health issues are not only costing our parents and our children, but the society and economics of the world. In general. This is a big issue that doesn’t get the attention and the resources that it really needs.
Mama, your action today is to make a change on a small scale. Yes, I would love to see big huge changes and mental health care, especially mental health care for moms, but it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to happen with those little changes kind of like how we talked about little by little, those changes are going to compound and add up to a lot. So your action today is to check on a mom a friend, check on her do an EMC emotional mental check in with text, call her, ask her in person, just check in on her and see how she’s doing. These little actions that we’re going to take just checking in on our friends checking in on the random mom at the grocery store are going to compound and make a big difference for moms mental health over the long term. And have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it
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Meghan Q Barrett is Mom Success Coach and Connector who helps mamas create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt. She connects Mamas from all around the world so can share their stories in a safe, supportive space.
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