"September is an important month for mental health awareness - Suicide Prevention Month. The goals of Suicide Prevention Month are to raise awareness, reduce mental health stigma, and promote help-seeking behaviors. Despite some promising reductions in U.S. suicide rates in the general population over the last decade, maternal suicide rates have increased during the same time period. Maternal suicide is defined as the death of a woman by suicide during the perinatal period (while pregnant or during the first year after giving birth)."
"As systems of tracking and recording maternal suicide have improved, we have unfortunately learned that maternal suicide rates are alarmingly high. Up to 20% of maternal deaths are due to suicide, making death by maternal suicide more common than death by pregnancy-related health conditions such as postpartum hemorrhage, sepsis, or hypertensive disorders. Although maternal suicide can happen at any point across the pregnancy-postpartum continuum, some periods are more critical."
Maternal suicide accounts for up to 20% of maternal deaths and exceeds many pregnancy-related health causes. Maternal suicide occurs during pregnancy or within the first postpartum year, with 62% of cases between 43–365 days postpartum, 24% during pregnancy, and 14% within 42 days postpartum. Maternal suicide rates have risen even as general U.S. suicide rates showed some reductions. Risk factors mirror the general population and include younger age, lower education, history of abuse or violence, external stressors such as financial instability, and mental health disorders, especially when undiagnosed or untreated.
Read at Psychology Today
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