Dr. Anthony McCarthy:

For the mother, there is a panoply of issues. She may have had a major mental health problem previously, for example, schizophrenia, bipolar illness, anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, anxiety, depression, etc. For others, something new might emerge during pregnancy, for example, anxiety or depression. It could be any mental health difficulty. Some women will start drinking in pregnancy. Some will cope in unhealthy ways. For example, I have had patients tell me that they stopped taking their antidepressants because they were fearful of damaging their babies, but because they could not sleep at night, they were drinking four glasses of wine. Women who may have controlled their eating disorders suddenly become pregnant. The challenges to their bodies, such as the challenge of having something inside them, can trigger a relapse of a serious problem. Women who have managed or controlled their obsessive concerns may become completely obsessed and suffer a relapse of OCD during pregnancy that affects their anxiety and checking behaviour, perhaps because of reducing their medication or the responsibility of something being inside them. They are checking movements multiple times. They cannot sleep at night because they are double-checking, triple-checking and worrying about it. Maybe they have had a foetal loss before and cannot relax during pregnancy because of that. Maybe they are depressed. There are a range of issues.