CME Article

Risks and Rewards of Returning to Work Postpartum

Leah R. Newborn, BA; Julia B. Frank, MD

  • Psychiatric Annals
  • July 2012 - Volume 42 · Issue 7: 262-264
  • DOI: 10.3928/00485713-20120705-06
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Abstract

CME Educational Objectives

  1. Outline the maternal, work-related, and support-related factors that can compromise or facilitate a woman’s return to work after childbirth.

  2. Emphasize the need to treat existing psychiatric disorders to ensure a woman’s successful return to work, as well as her successful adaptation to her new role as mother.

  3. Recognize the role of health care providers in mobilizing resources and advocacy to minimize the conflicts experienced by working mothers.

 

As a vital part of the work force, many women now work during pregnancy and return to work within months of giving birth. From 1975 to 1995, the percentage of women with a child younger than 12 months old who returned to work increased from 29% to 60%.1 This number continues to grow, yet the health and mental health consequences of juggling the roles of wife, mother, and employee are not fully known.

Although obstetricians may certify when women are physically able to return to work, mental health professionals have little advice for mothers about the normal challenges of working while being responsible for an infant or a young child, or while dealing with clinically significant problems of mood, anxiety, or cognitive efficiency, all of which may be compromised in the postpartum period.

AUTHORS

Leah R. Newborn, BA, is a medical student at The George Washington University School of Medicine. Julia B. Frank, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry; Co-director of the Five Trimesters Clinic, The George Washington University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Address correspondence to: Julia B. Frank, MD, The George Washington University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 2150 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, 8th Floor, Washington, DC, 20037; fax: 202-741-2891; email: jfrank@mfa.gwu.edu

doi: 10.3928/00485713-20120705-06

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