Mind On Mental Health · Penn Medicine - Princeton House Behavioral Health

Why Screening for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders Falls Short....and When to Ask for Help

·22 min

Andy Dean talks with Lisa Tremaine, the director and founder of the Center for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders, about why some moms do not reach out for help and what signs suggest it may be time for professional support. The conversation stays close to the reality of early parenthood, where the shift into life with a newborn can be stressful and where periods of feeling down, anxious, or overwhelmed can become hard to separate from a bigger mental health concern. Lisa keeps returning to the gap between the happy story people expect and the messier reality some parents live with, especially in situations involving fertility struggles or multiples. She is clear that this is not simply about wanting the baby or loving the baby. It is about hormones, chemicals, serotonin, severe sleep deprivation, and the strain of caring for one, two, or three babies at once. Andy asks the kind of questions that keep the topic grounded in real life. Lisa answers with examples that feel lived in: whiteboards, feeding schedules, NICU routines, and the frustration of feeling like you are failing at home even when you are trying to do everything right. The show does not smooth that over. Instead, it lets the listener hear how often people stay quiet because the subject feels hard to talk about in a real way, much like other topics people avoid naming directly. That makes the episode useful. It gives language to the point where a parent is still managing day to day but no longer coping comfortably, and where the outside story of gratitude is starting to clash with the inside story of distress. The tone stays warm and practical. It is also unsentimental about how quickly the early months can move from ordinary adjustment into something that needs professional attention. By the end, the episode keeps circling back to the same question: when the load stops being temporary and starts swallowing the rest of life, asking for help is the right move.

As heard by us

A blunt, compassionate look at when new-parent stress starts to warrant help.

Andy Dean and Lisa Tremaine treat perinatal mental health as lived strain, not a tidy checklist. They stay close to the barriers that can keep a mom from reaching out, and they point to the signs that suggest professional help may be needed.

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Why you'd press play

You want a clearer line between newborn stress and when it may be time to get professional help.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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