Why You Should Talk to Your OB/GYN About Your Mental Health
Along with day-to-day stressors, lifestyle choices and genetics, hormonal fluctuations can impact a woman’s mental health. This is why stages of life, like pregnancy and menopause, can put women at a higher risk for developing depression. Below, we’ve listed important things to know about mental health as it relates to your reproductive system.
Your mental health is important.
A woman’s overall wellbeing, which includes her mental health, impacts all areas of her life, including her gynecological and obstetric health. In addition, many women use their OB/GYNs as their primary care doctors. Therefore, your mental health is just as important to your OB/GYN as your physical state when they are assessing your general health. You should feel free to talk to your doctor about any mental health struggles you are experiencing, including changes in mood and increased anxiety.
You are not alone.
According to the CDC, about 1 in 8 women experience postpartum depression in the United States. Women can also experience changes in mood, anxiety levels and depression at various points in their lives outside of the postpartum period. In fact, some women experience depression during menopause, while trying to get pregnant and even during pregnancy. Though it may feel like our own personal battle, many women develop these conditions and there are likely women in your own life who have also struggled with changes in their mental health. Because these conditions are so common, there are many resources available that your doctor can recommend.
Treatment options are available.
When you share any mental health challenges you are facing with your OB/GYN, they can help in a number of ways, including making changes to your birth control, prescribing certain medicines, and connecting patients with other helpful resources and professionals, like therapists. While certain hormonal symptoms may and often do go away on their own, treatment options can greatly help your quality of life until they do.
