The data
What the numbers say about postpartum mental health
Two conditions are constantly confused with each other. One is common and its danger is to the mother. The other is rare, fast, and treatable, and it is the one the headlines are almost always about. Every figure on this page is sourced.
These are two different conditions
Postpartum depression
About 1 in 4 Canadian mothers report symptoms
The lethal risk is to the mother, not the child
Postpartum psychosis
1 to 2 births in every 1,000
A psychiatric emergency; risk to both, and only when untreated
Conflating the two is the most common error in public discussion of this subject. A history of postpartum depression is not evidence that a parent is a danger to a child.
Chapter one
It is not rare
Postpartum depression and anxiety are among the most common complications of childbirth in Canada.
of Canadian mothers reported feelings consistent with postpartum depression or an anxiety disorder
Almost one in four, in the year after giving birth.
Statistics Canada · 2019had symptoms consistent with postpartum depression specifically
A further 13.8% had symptoms consistent with postpartum anxiety.
Statistics Canada · 2019Reported feelings consistent with postpartum depression or anxiety, by province. Nova Scotia is roughly double Saskatchewan. Provinces between the highest and lowest reported figures are shown at the national range; see the source for full detail.
Chapter two
Most of it is never treated
The gap is not between illness and recovery. It is between illness and anyone noticing.
of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders go untreated
Three in four. Not undertreated. Untreated.
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine · 2026of patients at one large urban medical centre were screened even once
3,051 of 27,393, across pregnancy and the entire postpartum period.
MGH Center for Women’s Mental Health · 2025Chapter three
What untreated costs
In the United States, mental health conditions are a leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death. The danger of untreated postpartum depression is overwhelmingly to the mother.
of pregnancy-related deaths had a mental health condition as the underlying cause
A leading underlying cause, ahead of haemorrhage and of cardiac conditions.
US CDC · 2025of pregnancy-related deaths were found to be preventable
Reviewed committee by committee, case by case.
US CDC · 2025Chapter four
A different condition entirely
Postpartum psychosis is not severe depression. It is a separate, rare, rapid psychiatric emergency, and it is the condition the tragedies in the news almost always involve.
Postpartum psychosis affects 1 to 2 births in every 1,000
Every dot is a birth. The highlighted ones are the cases. Rare enough that most clinicians see very few, common enough that a country the size of Canada sees hundreds every year.
American Psychiatric Association · 2023infanticide risk in UNTREATED postpartum psychosis
This figure belongs to postpartum psychosis, not to postpartum depression, and it describes the condition left untreated.
American Psychiatric Association · 2023suicide risk in untreated postpartum psychosis
Higher than the risk to the infant.
American Psychiatric Association · 2023Onset is usually within the first two weeks after birth, most often within the first month.
It can change over hours. The person affected may not recognise that she is ill, or be able to seek help on her own.
Chapter five
What it looks like first
The earliest signs are not dramatic. They are the ones most easily explained away as new parenthood.
Earliest signs
- Insomnia, including an inability to sleep when the baby sleeps
- Restlessness
- Irritability
- Rapidly fluctuating mood
Call 911
- Hallucinations: hearing or seeing things others do not
- Delusions or unusual beliefs, often about the baby
- Paranoia
- Extreme confusion or disorientation
The signs on the left are the ones most easily mistaken for ordinary exhaustion. The signs on the right are a medical emergency.
Chapter six
Canadian law already recognised this
Parliament wrote the connection between childbirth and a disturbed mind into the Criminal Code in 1948. It is still there.
A female person commits infanticide when by a wilful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child, if at the time of the act or omission she is not fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child and by reason thereof or of the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child her mind is then disturbed.
Criminal Code, section 233
Enacted in 1948. It is both a stand-alone offence and a partial defence to murder, carrying a maximum of five years. Its existence is a legislative acknowledgement, written seventy-seven years ago, that childbirth can disturb the mind.
children in Canada were killed by a parent between 1961 and 2011
Across fifty years. The overall rate is 0.7 per 100,000 children.
Child Abuse & Neglect · 2015If you need help now
Emergency
911
Thoughts of harming yourself or the baby, severe confusion, or rapidly worsening symptoms
Suicide Crisis Helpline
988
Call or text, across Canada and the United States, English and French
Postpartum Support International
1-800-944-4773
Information and referrals, not an emergency line
Sources
This page presents published statistics for awareness and education. It is not medical or legal advice, and it is not a diagnostic tool. If you are worried about yourself or someone else, speak to a doctor.
Read: when your mental health is used against you in family court