Psychologist breaks down mental health issues mothers may be facing during the pandemic

PHOENIX - Being a mother is hard and during the COVID-19 pandemic it's even harder in most cases, says a Valley psychologist as mental health professionals are seeing increased cases of anxiety and depression in mothers.

Dr. Kristine Goto is a psychologist with Banner Heath and practices heavily in family medicine.

Goto says the feeling of the pandemic never ending is leading to the increase along with moms trying to juggle it all with little to no break.

"We are across the country seeing three times the level of maternal anxiety and depression, which is concerning because the levels were high to begin with," Goto said.

Adding, "Human beings can get through almost anything if we know that it’s temporary, but at this point even though the intellectual side of us knows that the pandemic is temporary, the emotional, social physiological side of us is not really responding that way anymore."

If you're struggling, the top three things you can do according to Goto is self compassion, adjust your expectation of success and adjust expectations for yourself and others.

"If we practice catching it and then intervening. What is the situation and how would I talk to a sister or friend or someone I love if she was going through the same thing, we could be much more compassionate," she explained.

She adds, "When we’re doing our best, our best in these days is not going to be equivalent of what our best was in otherwise quote-unquote, normal times."

It's normal to reach out if you need help, Goto says, encouraging those struggling to take advantage of telehealth resources.