Maternal Mental Health Awareness Session Hosted by Annantaa

News Desk. News Nation 360: In conjunction with Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2026 and its worldwide theme, "A Decade of Voices," Annantaa organised a thorough awareness session to end the taboo around maternal mental health. Leading medical and psychological specialists convened for the intense session to discuss the growing number of women in the country and around the world who are secretly struggling with anxiety disorders, emotional burnout, postpartum depression, and prenatal stress. Prominent obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr. Basab Mukherjee and Dr. Indrani Lodh, the founder director of the Urvaraa Group of Women's Clinics, emphasised the heavy emotional burdens that millions of mothers bear in silence and vigorously promoted early clinical intervention, easily accessible counselling, and compassionate healthcare frameworks. Based on alarming global healthcare metrics from recent maternal wellness reports for 2025 and 2026, the discussions emphasised that approximately 1 in 5 women worldwide suffer from a maternal mental health disorder during pregnancy or in the first year following childbirth. Based on approximately 140 million births worldwide, this translates to nearly 28 million women annually. Additionally, data highlights a startling treatment gap, with nearly 75% to 85% of affected women never receiving a proper diagnosis or treatment due to social stigma and limited medical access. This reality is exacerbated in developing nations, where postpartum conditions affect 19.8% of new mothers and prenatal anxiety reaches 15.6%. Indian studies also show that perinatal depression rates shift between 14% and 45% due to lifestyle pressures and emotional isolation. Madhuri Sarda, a clinical hypnotherapist, counselling psychologist, and founder of Annantaa, stressed that a mother's emotional health directly affects her life and her child's long-term development, necessitating parity with physical healthcare. Vidhi Bansal, co-founder and psychotherapist at Annantaa-Power of the Mind, echoed this view and urged society, businesses, and families to deliberately create secure, accepting environments where moms can seek expert psychological assistance. The panel of experts came to the conclusion that maternal mental health goes far beyond the typical baby blues to include postpartum psychosis, trauma-related stress, and extreme exhaustion—all of which are made worse by systemic sleep deprivation, career pressures, and isolation. This calls for the normalisation of emotional well-being as a crucial cornerstone of public health discussions.

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