Dear Editor,
Right now, somewhere in Tulare County, a new mother is sitting in a quiet room, baby finally asleep and she is not sleeping. She is staring at the ceiling, wondering why she doesn’t feel the joy everyone told her she would feel. She is wondering if something is wrong with her. She wants her old life back and she thinks she is failing as a mom.
She is not failing. She is 1 in 5.
May is Maternal Mental Health Month, and May 6th is World Maternal Mental Health Day, a globally recognized moment to break the silence around one of the most underdiagnosed and undertreated conditions affecting families in our community and around the world. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Perinatal Mental Health therapist (PMH-C) practicing right here in Visalia, I am asking our community to pay attention.
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders also known as PMADs are the most common complication of pregnancy and childbirth. They include Postpartum Depression, Postpartum Anxiety, Birth Trauma, and Postpartum PTSD among others. 1 in 5 mothers will experience a PMAD. 1 in 10 fathers will develop Postpartum Depression during this period. And when left untreated, these conditions can persist for up to three years, silently affecting not just the mother, but her baby, her relationships, and the entire family.
What makes this an urgent matter in communities like ours? Most moms never ask for help. Not because they don’t need it, but because they don’t recognize what they’re experiencing as a medical condition. They think it’s weakness. They think they should be grateful. They think they should be able to handle it. They think it’s normal.
They are wrong and the more we talk about PMADs the more we can dispel those beliefs.
What Postpartum Depression Actually Looks Like
It does not always look like crying constantly. Often, postpartum depression looks like a mom who smiles at every social gathering and falls apart alone. It looks like rage, numbness, exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix, intrusive scary thoughts she’s too afraid to share, and a deep sense of disconnect from the baby she loves. These are medical symptoms, not character flaws and they deserve appropriate attention.
Resources That Can Help
If you or someone you love is struggling, please know that support is available right now, today:
Postpartum Support International (PSI): postpartum.net · Helpline: 1-800-944-4773
PSI offers a national free helpline, peer support groups, and a provider directory to help families find specialized care.
Maternal Mental Health Hotline: 1-833-852-6262 (1-833-TLC-MAMA) — A free, confidential 24/7 helpline for pregnant and postpartum moms and their families, available in English and Spanish.
Local Support in Tulare County
As a PMH-C therapist based in Visalia with lived experience I am passionate about helping mamas who are struggling. I offer Individual Therapy and a Postpartum Therapy Group for moms navigating depression, anxiety, birth trauma, and the weight of early motherhood, both in-person and virtually for California residents. If you are a new mother in Tulare County who has been quietly suffering, or if you know someone who is, please reach out. You do not have to keep doing this alone.
This May, I am asking our community to say the quiet part out loud: motherhood is beautiful and it is hard, and sometimes it is a medical emergency. The mamas of Tulare County deserve to know that help is here.
With gratitude and hope,
Alicia Zayas, LCSW, PMH-C
Perinatal Mental Health Therapist · Visalia, CA
@mama.ppd.therapist · www.zayaslcsw.com · 559-372-9751 · [email protected]