The Mothers Still Suffering in Silence

Despite wider conversations about mental health, maternal mental health remains surrounded by silence.

Mothers are frequently expected to recover quickly after childbirth, care for their babies instinctively and remain emotionally available to everyone around them. Their exhaustion may be normalised. Their distress may be dismissed as temporary. Their need for rest or professional assistance may be interpreted as weakness.

Elna knows the cost of these expectations because she once carried them herself.

She is particularly passionate about ensuring that mothers receive understanding before judgement. This requires families, healthcare professionals, workplaces and communities to recognise that maternal mental health is not solely a private concern.

“If we can normalise talking about maternal mental health, we won’t just save mothers,” she explains. “We’ll strengthen families and future generations.”

When a mother receives appropriate support, the benefits extend beyond one individual. Her wellbeing influences her relationships, her ability to recover, her connection with her child and the emotional environment of the family.

Supporting mothers should not begin only when a crisis becomes visible. It should start with listening, routine mental health conversations and the assurance that seeking help does not make anyone less capable of motherhood.

A mother should never need to collapse before society decides that she has carried enough.