Perinatal Mental Health: Pregnancy and After Birth

This article is general information published by the practice of Dr. Sholeh Toobaei, Specialist Psychiatrist, Dubai. It has not yet been individually reviewed by a clinician and is not a substitute for personal medical advice. Published: 1 September 2026.

Scope: This article is general information. It is not a diagnosis, and it contains no medication advice — decisions about any treatment in pregnancy or breastfeeding must be made individually with your doctors.

Is it normal to struggle emotionally during pregnancy and after birth?

Yes — emotional ups and downs are normal in pregnancy and in the first days after birth. What is not normal is persistent low mood, anxiety, or hopelessness lasting more than two weeks, or any thoughts of harming yourself or your baby. Those are signs of a treatable medical condition, not of being a bad mother.

Pregnancy and the months after birth involve the largest hormonal shifts of a person's life, combined with sleep deprivation, physical recovery, and a total change of identity. It would be strange if this did not affect the mind. Roughly one in ten women experience depression during pregnancy, and a similar or higher number after birth; anxiety is at least as common. These are among the most common complications of childbirth — more common than many physical complications that nobody hesitates to treat.

What are the "baby blues," and how are they different from postnatal depression?

Baby blues are brief: tearfulness, irritability, and emotional overwhelm in the first few days after birth, affecting most new mothers, and passing on their own within about two weeks. Postnatal depression is different: it persists beyond two weeks, deepens rather than lifts, and interferes with your ability to function and to enjoy or care for your baby.

The dividing line is time plus severity. If at three or four weeks you are still crying most days, feeling nothing for the baby, feeling like a failure, unable to sleep even when the baby sleeps, or having frightening thoughts, that is not the blues. That is postnatal depression or anxiety, and it responds to treatment.

Postnatal anxiety is less discussed but just as real: constant checking that the baby is breathing, inability to rest, catastrophic thoughts that something terrible will happen, physical tension and racing heart. Some mothers also experience intrusive thoughts — unwanted, horrifying images of harm coming to the baby. These thoughts are a recognised symptom of anxiety, they are deeply distressing precisely because the mother finds them horrifying, and they are very different from wanting to cause harm. They are also treatable, and telling a doctor about them will not get your baby taken away — it will get you help.

What about pregnancy itself — and what about medication?

Depression and anxiety during pregnancy are common and deserve treatment in their own right; untreated illness carries its own risks for mother and baby. Whether and how to use medication in pregnancy or while breastfeeding is an individual decision, made by weighing risks on both sides with your psychiatrist and obstetrician together — never by stopping medication suddenly on your own.

This last point is critical. Many women discover they are pregnant and stop their psychiatric medication the same day, out of fear. Sudden stopping can cause severe relapse at the most vulnerable possible time. If you are planning a pregnancy, or have just discovered one, the right move is an early conversation with your doctors — not a unilateral decision made in fear. Many treatment plans can be continued or adapted safely; that judgement requires your specific history, not a general rule from the internet.

What is different about facing this in Dubai, away from family?

A great deal. In many cultures, the weeks after birth are when a new mother is surrounded — her mother, sisters, aunts taking over cooking, night duties, and reassurance. Expatriate mothers often face the same newborn with a husband working long hours and family a flight away. The loss of that traditional safety net is real, and it raises risk.

Practical steps matter: accept every offer of help, hire help if you can, join a mothers' group, and tell your husband explicitly what you need — partners often want to help and simply do not know how. Fathers, too, can develop depression after a birth; it is under-recognised and equally worth treating.

When should I seek urgent help?

Seek urgent help immediately if you have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, if you are hearing or seeing things others do not, if you believe things that others say are not true, or if you have not slept for days and feel strangely energised or confused. A rare but serious condition called postpartum psychosis can begin suddenly in the first two weeks after birth and is always an emergency. In the UAE, call 999 (police) or 998 (ambulance), or go to the nearest emergency department. For non-urgent assessment, this practice can be reached on +971 58 143 2494.