Postpartum Anxiety Is More Common Than You Think—Here’s What You Need to Know

glamour.com:

, can make the already challenging period of new parenthood seem almost impossible to navigate. “When you become a new parent, it’s normal to experience new feelings of stress, nervousness, and anxiety,” says , a board-certified OB-GYN and chief medical officer at VeryWell Health. “However, if the feelings don’t subside, get worse, or start to really affect your everyday functioning, it may be cause for concern.”Typically, you'll first start noticing signs of postpartum anxiety in the first few weeks after giving birth, but the onset can happen “anytime within the first 12 months after your baby is born,” says Dr.

Shepherd. Postpartum anxiety (PPA) is a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, a group that includes a range of mental health disorders—depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, and PTSD—that can occur during pregnancy or up to one year postpartum.

Together, these disorders are surprisingly common. One in five birthing parents will experience a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, says , Ph.D., director of the at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

The good news: Researchers now understand more about these pregnancy-related changes than ever—including how to screen for them and treat them.