4. Children can only thrive when they have the attention of the mother. Not so! Children do not have to rely on the mother as the sole provider for emotional closeness, wellness or identity. The father’s role is also very important throughout the stages of development and as early as primary caretaking.
5. Women can wean themselves off of their medications while pregnant and still have a healthy baby. This is untrue. When a woman has a history of mental illness and is pregnant, treatment can and often does include psychiatric medications. Though women have a right to choose to continue or stop taking their prescriptions during pregnancy, research shows that about 85 percent of women have an upset mood after giving birth, regardless of a diagnosed mental illness. Having a mental illness can make a woman more vulnerable to worsening symptoms. It’s advisable that pregnant women speak with their medical practitioners before deciding to stop or add medications.
Understanding that the more you know about your mental health and that of your partner’s, coupled with a healthy lifestyle, good eating habits, exercise and regular health check-ups the more prepared you can be to have an overall positive experience with child rearing. Women have enough burden to carry in their own lives, why complicate it with myths about motherhood and mental health?
#MentalHealth Myth Buster: Mothers Cause Mental Illness? was originally published on blackdoctor.org
