Why an Integrated Approach to Perinatal Depression and Anxiety Is Necessary: An Introduction to the Book

This book builds on a first-of-its-kind reference book on perinatal depression (i.e., during pregnancy and postpartum) detection and treatment of Spanish-speaking and Latin American women (Lara-Cinisomo & Wisner, 2014). The first book examined the prevalence, screening methods, interventions, and barriers to care in the United States, Mexico, Chile, and Spain. This book takes an integrated approach to perinatal depression and anxiety in Spanish-speaking and Latina women, who are underrepresented in research and tend to have low rates of diagnosis and treatment. While psychological symptoms, including depression and anxiety, increased during the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus disease 19; COVID-19) pandemic (Iyengar et al., 2021; Roddy Mitchell et al., 2023), the health crisis also highlighted the critical need to work across the globe to clarify risk factors, identify culturally relevant interventions, attend to contextual factors, examine biomarkers, and develop a workforce that is ready to meet the needs of diverse birthing people. Thus, an integrated approach to perinatal mental health is needed. This book is one step in that direction.