As long as there are mothers who commit suicide after giving birth, we must continue to talk about all aspects of motherhood, and above all its difficulties.
The proof is given by this new and edifying report, in which the French Public Health and Inserm announce thatSuicide, in France, had gone from second to first place as a cause of maternal death. Then would come cardiovascular accidents and finally, thirdly, deaths from hemorrhage. The report focuses on the period from conception to one year after the end of pregnancy, on the 272 maternal deaths recorded between 2016 and 2018.
A suicide every 3 weeks
As Anna Roy, an activist midwife, rightly stated last year in an Instagram post on the subject, maternal suicide is “the taboo within the taboo”. In fact, the report identifies approximately one maternal death from psychiatric causes every three weeks in France.
Details are provided:
This profile reminds us that the health of pregnant women goes beyond the strictly obstetric sphere. […] It is necessary to inform pregnant women, the people around them and the general public about the signs of perinatal depression, their frequency and the importance of prompt counseling in case of symptoms.
Report from French public health and Inserm
Catherine-Deneux Tharaux, research director at Inserm, shares her thoughts with AFP on what drives mothers to commit the irreparable:
Women still feel a strong sense of guilt about sadness, lack of pleasure with their baby, the feeling of not being a good mother, but they rarely verbalize it.
Catherine-Deneux Tharaux for the AFP
Indeed, as long as motherhood is idealized, as long as women are told ” that having children is only happiness“, and until they have all the keys in their hands to know what awaits them, suicide will still have a too high place in this ranking.
Mothers should be encouraged to talk about how they feel without taboos. There are no negative feelings, there is no “perfect” motherhood. The perfect mother does not exist and neither does her maternal instinct: it is urgent to stop making people believe in any natural ability to raise children, under the pretext that mothers are also women. This is all nonsense. It’s internalized patriarchy, it’s letting mothers believe that only they know and can take care of a child, instinctively.
Maternal suicide: what to do to help mothers
It seems urgent to continue offering medical and psychological monitoring for several months after giving birth. There is still much informative work to be done on postpartum depression. Let’s not forget that in order to talk about your feelings, you need to feel like you will be listened to. And that requires freedom of speech on a societal scale.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need to increase paternity/parental leave and for co-parents to take their full place within the family. A review of society around motherhood and parenting is fundamental, because a suicide every three weeks in France is a fact that, humanly, we cannot accept.
If you feel worried, you can go to any emergency room. Don’t hesitate to ask for helpto your family, friends and healthcare professionals. You can also call 3114, the national suicide prevention hotline. You are not alone, you can be helped.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
