Whether you’re a brand-new parent, supporting a grown child, or anywhere in between, parenting can be complicated. Raising a child can be a source of great joy and fulfillment, but it’s often stressful as well. For some people, parenting can also be closely connected to mental health symptoms.
Almost every parent experiences stress and other negative emotions around parenting from time to time. However, if you think that issues related to parenting are causing you to experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, or other mental helth concerns on a regular basis, you may want to seek support from a therapist.
Currently, there is relatively little research on how parenting affects the long-term mental health of parents.
However, there is extensive research showing that perinatal mental health issues – that is, mental health issues that occur during pregnancy or shortly after a baby’s birth--are quite common for both mothers and fathers. For example, about 13% of mothers worldwide experience some form of mental health challenge related to parenting, most often postpartum depression.
Additionally, the National Institute of Mental Health notes that 18.9% of all adults in the United States have been diagnosed with some kind of mental illness. Accordingly, it’s likely that many people who become parents are already dealing with mental health challenges, which the increased stresses of parenting might make more difficult.
What are some different kinds of mental health challenges relating to parenting?
Parenting is different for everyone, so there is no one set of symptoms or circumstances related to parenting challenges.
That said, some common mental health challenges that might come up in connection to parenting include:
- Perinatal mental health challenges: It’s especially common for both mothers and fathers to experience mental health difficulties during the perinatal period, which starts during pregnancy and extends through the first several months after the baby is born.
- Anxiety or worry: You may be preoccupied with worry or experience anxiety about caring for your child, managing a more complicated household, or balancing all of life’s demands.
- Depression: The new stresses (and chemical changes) of becoming a parent or parenting a growing child can lead to sadness, hopelessness, lethargy, and other symptoms of depression.
- Work stress: Figuring out how to balance your career with the demands of parenting can be uniquely stressful.
- Family issues: Becoming a parent might lead to family tensions with your family of origin, or expanding your own nuclear family can create new dynamics (for example, sibling conflicts) that are difficult to manage.
- Issues with sex or intimate relationships: Parenting can be a significant source of stress for you and your partner(s). Sometimes, it can lead to challenges with your sex life or in your relationship more generally. If you’re a single parent, challenges with parenting can also cause stress in your intimate relationships.
- Challenges around identity and life transitions: Parenting can have a big impact on your personal identity and how you view your life, whether you’re parenting a new baby or adjusting to an empty nest. These transitions are a major part of parenting and can often be quite challenging, particularly for wormen who are balancing social expectations of motherhood with individual identity.
- Issues related to infertility and miscarriage: Whether you already have a child or are trying for your first, infertility and miscarriage can make the process of becoming a parent painful and stressful.
- Physical symptoms: Stress often comes with physical symptoms including muscle tension, headaches, and digestive troubles. You might find that these symptoms correspond to challenges related to parenting.
