“Mental Health & Climate Change” is a monthly column by Elizabeth Bechard, Moms Clean Air Force Senior Policy Analyst, in which she explores how families are coping with our warming world.
If you’ve been through the “baby blues” after giving birth, you’re not alone: it’s a common, completely normal experience. Up to to 85% of childbearing individuals experience intense emotions within the first few weeks after the birth of a child, likely associated with the profound hormonal shifts that happen in the immediate postpartum period (not to mention the fact that a tiny human has just shredded life as you knew it). When the baby blues linger, though, extra support may be needed. The postpartum period is a time of significant vulnerability for maternal mental health conditions, including postpartum anxiety and depression.
Traumatic experiences, such as living through an extreme weather event, can also increase the risk of developing maternal mental health conditions. As nearly all of us have experienced firsthand over the past few years, climate change is making extreme weather events more severe and intense—meaning, among other things, more stress and trauma for pregnant people and new mothers, and more mental health challenges during an already-vulnerable time.
A new study published in January highlights the increasingly important intersection between climate change and maternal mental health. Australian researchers recruited a group of 31 mothers with a baby under a year old for a study involving a focus group and survey that invited them to reflect on their experiences of extreme weather and how it intersected with their experience of motherhood. Much like the U.S., Australia is a country that has been battered by intense wildfires, floods, drought, and heat waves in recent years, with much of the population directly impacted by extreme weather.
Key themes emerging from the study analysis included:
- Impacts on health and well-being: Participants expressed a sense of feeling overwhelmed by trying to balance the challenges of weather alongside the challenges of motherhood, as well as feelings of anxiety and worry about the implications of extreme weather. Participants described traumatic experiences related to specific events (e.g., storms, flooding); worry about the economic impact of extreme weather (such as the high cost of air conditioning to keep children safe during heat waves); and worry about the impact of weather on food security. Keeping children safe during hot weather was of particular concern to many participants, with mothers reporting both worry about their children being outside in hot weather and a sense of guilt about entertaining them indoors with screens.
- Helplessness and avoidant coping strategies: Participants frequently reported a sense of helplessness related to the climate crisis, doubting that voicing their individual concerns as citizens would make any difference. Many participants described needing to turn away from distressing news about climate change, as well as struggling to have conversations about climate change with family members and others.
- Resilience and adaptation: In addition to the significant challenges associated with extreme weather, participants who had encountered and navigated environmental hardships expressed resilience and an ability to adapt, as well as a sense of hope for the future.
“It is vital to recognize the impact of climate change and extreme weather events on mothers,” the study authors write, “and to provide them with tailored support and resources to navigate the emotional and practical challenges that they may face, ensuring that their own well-being is the priority. To the authors’ knowledge, such resources do not currently exist.”
New parents have always deserved support for their mental health—and it’s clear that in a changing climate, support for new mothers and other childbearing parents will be needed more than ever.
If you or someone you love is in need of postpartum mental health support, please visit the Postpartum Support International (PSI) website, call the PSI HelpLine at 1-800-944-4773, or call the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262).
TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT MENTAL WELLNESS RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES HIT BY CLIMATE DISASTER