When a baby is born, people stop acting like themselves. Gruff grown-ups make goofy faces at infants. Nostalgic moms share their birthing experiences with pregnant strangers. Shy kids clamber onto strollers of babies they don’t know, just to coo at newborns.

In some cases, emotions brought up during this motherhood transition can become intense and get in the way of day-to-day functioning, much more severe than the “baby blues.” There are biological factors such as genetics and hormonal changes, as well as psychological factors and social stressors that can impact mood during and after pregnancy.

Also, there are high societal expectations around mothers to perceive pregnancy and infant care as a time of bliss and happiness. When reality doesn’t match this assumption, the disparity can lead to mental health symptoms or further exacerbate existing mental health conditions.

In fact, one in five women develop maternal depression, making it the leading complication of pregnancy. More importantly, there is vast scientific evidence showing that untreated mental health conditions can cause a wide range of complications for both mother and baby. It is no longer acceptable to ask a mother to power through these conditions on her own due to misinformation. These mothers deserve attention and help in a timely manner.

When we launched our Maternal Mental Health Program in 2017, the prevalence of these mental health challenges in our community came into stark, clear focus. I feel fortunate that through the support of philanthropy, we were able to address these needs through a specialized outpatient clinic where women can meet with a psychiatrist, licensed marriage, and family therapist or a licensed clinical social worker to receive care or to be connected to appropriate resources.

The fact that the Orange County community understands and is committed to addressing this need, is incredible. And I hope the work being done through community support will inspire other hospitals, physicians and communities to address maternal depression head-on.

By offering pre-conception planning and mental health assessments, the medical community can provide early intervention, education and treatment for women who have mental health concerns prior to pregnancy. For women whose mental health needs only become apparent during or after pregnancy, a strong program can also provide individual and group psychotherapy, medication safety evaluation during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and linkage to community agencies to help address social needs.

Ideally, maternal mental health will become a routine part of prenatal care: While we work to ensure that baby is developing well, we need to support expecting mothers and new mothers as their bodies change as well. When women know that they are understood and supported, they feel more confident to say, “I’m not OK. I need help.”

It is then up to the rest of us to see how we can act differently — and offer that help.

Patricia De Marco Centeno is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in consultation-liaison psychiatry, and she currently serves as a psychopharmacology consultant at the California Department of State Hospitals. She received additional training in reproductive mental health through the University of Southern California at the Maternal Wellness Clinic at Los Angeles County Medical Center.

De Marco has helped establish perinatal mental health programs at large health systems in Orange County, California, and facilitated the development of local protocols for the screening, assessment, and treatment of women during pregnancy, postpartum, and fertility treatment. She formerly served as behavioral health medical director for the County of Orange, where she helped oversee Medicaid-based mental health services for patients living with serious mental illness.

Her research spans controlled substance disclosure among psychiatric outpatients, quality of life in anorexia nervosa, and the management of mental illness in obstetric inpatients, with work appearing in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice and Eating Disorders and presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. She coauthored Beyond the Birth Plan, a workshop offered through the Maternal Mental Health Program at Hoag Hospital, and has spoken on expert panels addressing women’s health, hormones and mental health, and mental health leadership for audiences convened by Hoag Hospital, Cigna, and the Young Presidents’ Organization. Her commentary has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Daily Pilot and Parenting OC, and her expertise has been cited in Parents.com and TheEveryMom.com. She shares updates on LinkedIn.

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