INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders can begin at conception and last until a year after birth, contrary to the common belief that mental health issues only start after delivery.

Among the rarest and most severe of these conditions is perinatal psychosis. It affects one or two of every 1,000 births. In 2025, when 3.6 million people gave birth, at least 3,600 experienced the condition.

“I think one of the things that’s hard is that when someone’s experiencing this, to them, everything is very real,” said Christine Certain, a mental health counselor at Certain Counseling.

The disorder causes mania that alters how a pregn...