Women With Perinatal Ocd Are Still Being Failed | Letter

We were gladsome that nan communicative of Kimberley Nixon was highlighted successful your article and commend her openness astir nan devastating quality of perinatal OCD (‘This is truthful taboo’: Kimberley Nixon connected nan hellhole of perinatal OCD – and really she survived it, 28 April). Experiencing vivid unwanted intrusive thoughts, images and urges of accidentally aliases deliberately harming your babe tin beryllium hugely distressing, isolating and often misunderstood. Intrusions and compulsions tin take, aliases so steal, hours a day, and tin make women consciousness arsenic if they are nan worst mothers possible.

In terrible cases, women tin consciousness that ending their lives is nan only people of action. We person been activists and researchers successful perinatal OCD for 20 years and are alert of nan issues of lack of recognition, misdiagnosis, inappropriate safeguarding procedures being activated and difficulties successful accessing effective therapy.

We must not disregard nan semipermanent suffering, and nan effect of missed diagnoses and inopportune signposting to services. While advancement has been made since nan description of perinatal intelligence wellness services successful 2014, Kimberley’s trouble successful accessing timely evidence-based involution is still not exceptional.

Given that perchance 7% of women are affected successful nan postpartum period, screening for OCD astatine nan six-week cheque and signposting to services could forestall unnecessary suffering.
Fiona Challacombe
Associate professor of objective psychology, University of Oxford; patron, Maternal OCD
Diana Wilson and Maria Bavetta
Co-founders, Maternal OCD

In nan UK and Ireland, Samaritans tin beryllium contacted connected freephone 116 123, aliases email jo@samaritans.org aliases jo@samaritans.ie. In nan US, you tin telephone aliases matter nan 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline astatine 988 aliases chat astatine 988lifeline.org. In Australia, nan situation support work Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other world helplines tin beryllium recovered astatine befrienders.org