Seven out of 10 mothers in the UK feel overloaded and almost half have a mental health issue such as anxiety or depression, new research has revealed.
The survey of mothers’ experiences in 12 European countries also found that most of those in Britain still do the majority of household tasks and caregiving work alone, and that the UK was among the worst for motherhood disadvantaging a woman’s career.
The grim picture that emerged from the report, by the pan-European campaign group Make Mothers Matter, prompted calls for GPs and NHS maternity and health visiting services to routinely ask mothers about their mental wellbeing and provide much more help to those who need it.
Make Mothers Matter surveyed 800 mothers in each of 12 European countries about the psychological impact of giving birth and dealing with the pressures of motherhood.
It found that:
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71% of UK mothers feel overloaded – 4% more than the 67% European average
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47% of UK mothers suffer from mental health issues, including burnout, compared with 50% in Europe as a whole
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31% of UK respondents felt motherhood had a negative effect on their career, higher than the 27% average, with Ireland the highest on 36%
However, it also found some measures by which mothers in the UK find it easier to balance work and caring. For example, 11% said their partner did not take paternity leave – far lower than the 25% average across the 12 countries. And while 32% in Britain said their role is not recognised by society, the average across Europe was 41%.
The 12 countries were the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden and Slovakia.
Prof Alain Gregoire, a perinatal psychiatrist and honorary president of the Maternal Mental Alliance UK, said that, despite improvements in NHS care in recent years, too many mothers were left “suffering in silence”.
“Much of the suffering maternal mental ill-health causes goes undetected, despite mothers’ repeated contact with maternity staff, health visitors and GPs.
“There’s a stigma associated with seeking mental health help and support, there’s not enough of that around, so women face enormous barriers to getting help, and health professionals don’t get enough training in spotting maternal mental health problems,” he said.
Easy access to “talking therapies” that offer psychological help for mothers would “provide an unstigmatised way of accessing help and relieve huge amounts of the suffering for mothers and families,” he added.
He pinpointed the UK’s lack of spending on services to help young families and children between birth and five years old relative to many European nations, especially in northern Europe, as a key reason why Britain scored so poorly for maternal wellbeing.
The findings show that women are being asked to cope with the responsibilities of motherhood without enough support, said Angela McConville, chief executive of the NCT parenting charity.
“Pregnancy, birth and early parenthood are periods of heightened vulnerability, but significant gaps remain in the care and services offered to women and new parents, particularly after birth.
“After birth, women need services that provide localised mental health support, unbiased and evidence-based information, and regular, reliable touchpoints – from health visitors through to postnatal GP check-ups.
“Instead, many women encounter a fragmented postnatal care system that is dangerously underfunded and understaffed, leaving them feeling isolated at a time when support is most critical,” she added.
Community-based peer support groups would help mothers with low to moderate maternal mental health issues, McConville said.
Mothers across Europe are experiencing higher levels of stress, cognitive overload and emotional exhaustion today than when it undertook a similar survey in 2011, Make Mothers Matter said. That is the result of “increased economic insecurity, persistent work-life imbalance, insufficient care infrastructures and the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which intensified caregiving demands and blurred boundaries between paid and unpaid work,” it said.
The Department of Health and Social Care did not respond directly to the findings.
A spokesperson said: “Every mother deserves to feel supported when it comes to their mental health, and we are determined to ensure help is there when it’s needed.
“A wide range of support is available on the NHS for new and expectant mothers, including access to specialist perinatal services, talking therapies and help from health visitors.
“We are investing more in mental health services with an extra £688m this year, we’ve hired an extra 7,000 mental health workers, and we’re providing more NHS talking therapies.”