As many as one in five women experience depression, anxiety, or another mental health condition during pregnancy or in the year after birth. Although effective treatments exist, many women don’t receive them.
Compared to other similar countries, the United States has higher rates of maternal mortality and fewer resources like parental leave aimed at supporting pregnant women and mothers. Even within the United States, measures of maternal health such as maternal mortality as well as available resources for support vary greatly from state to state. For example, in the state of Michigan, the MC3 perinatal psychiatry access program can help healthcare professionals or patients connect with helpful mental health resources, but other states don’t have this kind of program.
To better understand what maternal mental health looks like across the U.S., the research team at the University of Michigan Perinatal Mental Health Services and Policy Program, led by Dr. Kara Zivin, created a visual maternal mental health dashboard and maternal mental health profiles for all U.S. states.
“Before we can fix a problem, we need to better describe it. We are proud and excited to offer these resources as a pathway to more informed problem-solving for the U.S. maternal health crisis.”
- Dr. Kara Zivin, the program’s director and Marcia A Valenstein M.D. Collegiate Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
At this time, the dashboard and the profiles use information about people who have commercial insurance, but researchers plan to include people with Medicaid in the near future.
To learn more:
- Explore the maternal mental health dashboard
- Explore the maternal mental health state profiles
- Read about the importance of collecting data about maternal mental health
The team hopes that this information offers policymakers and maternal mental health advocates an evidence-based way to support pregnant and postpartum families in the future.
