围产期焦虑是指怀孕期间和分娩后长达一年的痛苦焦虑症状的经历。实际上，研究表明，在“正常情况”下，大约有五分之一的女性可能会在围产期时期出现显着焦虑。但是，由于当前的19日大流行，这一比例似乎可能更高，而我们收集的初步证据似乎支持这一想法。

尽管围产期焦虑症患病率很普遍，但不到50％的症状女性会寻求帮助或接受治疗（请参阅NCT’s #hiddenhalf campaign更多细节）。这是有问题的，因为研究表明，未经治疗的围产期焦虑可能与母亲和婴儿的长期和短期后果有关，包括早产，，，，excessive infant crying，，，，bonding issues，，，，and儿童的发展和心理健康问题。So it is important that we better understand, recognize, and support women who may be suffering from perinatal anxiety symptoms.

为了阐明这一点，我们最近举行了焦点小组，以探索妇女在围产期时期的焦虑经历，并深入了解她们的在线支持。尽管our study，，，，published inBMC Pregnancy and Childbirth，，，，was carried out before the pandemic began, some of the findings may be particularly relevant at a time when we are social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Anxiety Triggers

该研究确定了围产期妇女的许多特定焦虑来源。其中包括：

In lockdown, turning to the internet for information and online peer support may be particularly helpful.

（1）母亲的现实与他们对分娩和母亲的期望之间的不匹配。Both social media and traditional media contain romanticized depictions of what pregnancy and having a baby should be like, which can set unrealistic expectations about motherhood and can lead women to feel anxious and like they have failed when their experiences don’t quite match up.

“I just struggle with parenthood being completely honest. It’s like one of these things where there’s so much social media these days saying how you should be this and that. And for me that’s actually, like the biggest thing that really blocks me from thinking actually it’s OK, like this is normal.”

（（2) Uncertainty and maternal confidence.Related to point 1, many women described struggling with the adjustment to motherhood. In line with a plethora of research that shows a significant link between anxiety symptoms and feelings of uncertainty, women in this study found the unknowns of pregnancy and motherhood to be particularly anxiety-provoking. They felt generally underprepared which often translated into a lack of maternal confidence and feeling like they weren’t doing it ‘right.’ This uncertainty stemmed from a general lack of experience with and knowledge about key aspects of motherhood, from giving birth to changing nappies and feeding.

“这实际上就是为什么人们挣扎的原因。我想我们都经历了很多事情。您已经建立了职业，已经建立了自己，拥有资格。然后突然……这个婴儿到了，你什么都不擅长。”

（3）缺乏支持。Most women a spoke about motherhood being isolating at times, which was a large source of distress. Those who were far away from friends and family felt this was a particular source of anxiety. This may be of particular concern under lockdown, especially as most women in our study highlighted that their peers were the single most important source of support in the perinatal period.

（4）心理健康素养。缺乏对围产期焦虑本身的认识和知识也导致了焦虑症状，因为女性常​​常不知道她们有什么问题。尽管许多人能够找到有关产后抑郁症的信息，但很少有关于他们所经历的焦虑症状的信息，这使他们感到痛苦，困惑和越来越焦虑。缺乏知识和对他们的处境的不确定性既是寻求支持的障碍，又是引发螺旋焦虑的触发。

Online Support

该研究的主要目的之一是探索妇女对支持围产期焦虑的现有和潜在的在线策略的看法。

绝大多数情况下，研究中的女性认为互联网可能是对围产期焦虑的女性的宝贵支持来源。具体而言，他们认为能够访问关于父母身份和焦虑本身的公正循证信息，可以减轻某些不确定性，从而减轻其焦虑症状。但是，他们通常无法专门找到有关围产期焦虑的信息。为了解决这个问题，我们现在已经开发了一个开放访问网站，该网站可明确提供有关围产期焦虑的循证信息。访问Open P.A.W.S.for access to more information, screening tools, self-help guides, and exercises.

Furthermore, women were able to use the internet to access peer support, which also had the power to breakdown idealized notions of motherhood. While our research suggests using large forums (such as Mumsnet/Netmums) may be more anxiety-provoking than relieving, many mums found smaller targeted groups really helpful. These offered an opportunity to form virtual relationships with mothers in the same position as themselves, and hear more realistic stories of parenthood which could normalize their own experiences.

“所以我们就不管。所以,如果你having a really naff day you’ll say Jesus Christ, the kids have done this, this and this. And someone goes oh tell me about it. And it’s just somebody, like, who’s feeling the same thing as you, so it’s not completely like… all the social media where it’s this perfect mum… it’s well I’m here with cereal stuck in my hair and it’s two o’clock in the afternoon. So at least with that it was other normal mums that were just like yeah, I’m doing the same thing as you. So you didn’t feel so alone.”

Isolation and lockdown

In lockdown, when feelings of isolation are likely to further exacerbate anxiety symptoms, turning to the internet for information and online peer support may be particularly helpful. Finding reliable, realistic sources of information about perinatal anxiety (such as OpenPAWS) and targeted peer support (such as围产期心理健康国际在线同伴支持小组）is likely to be particularly beneficial in alleviating symptoms of anxiety during this time.