Becoming a mother is an important chapter in every woman's life. But do you know that after becoming a mother, the mental health of women can also be affected? In particular, this situation may be more complicated for women who have suffered a brain injury. A study has found that women who have suffered a brain injury have a 25 percent higher risk of developing serious mental health problems after delivery.

The study, led by a team of Canadian researchers, highlights the importance of identifying individuals who have experienced past trauma during prenatal care and providing long-term, trauma-informed support to improve their mental health Is.

“We found that women who have a history of brain injury are much more likely to face serious mental health challenges in the years after childbirth,” said lead author Samantha Kruger of McMaster University in Canada. Kruger said this association was particularly strong for people who did not have a pre-existing mental illness. The study says brain injury during pregnancy and postpartum care may be an important but overlooked risk factor. The team monitored more than 750,000 women who gave birth in the Canadian province of Ontario between 2007 and 2017 and followed their mental health for 14 years after delivery.

The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, showed that 11 percent of women who had previously suffered a brain injury developed serious mental illness, compared with seven percent of women without any prior trauma. Importantly, among women who had no previous mental health problems, having a previous brain injury increased the risk of developing serious mental illness by 33 percent. Dr. Hilary Brown, associate professor in the department of health and society at the University of Toronto Scarborough, said sleep is very important for recovery after a head injury, but sleep deprivation is a reality for many new parents.