Find care now
If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 or seek care at an emergency room.
Parenting may be the hardest job you’ll ever love, and a new advisory by the U.S. Surgeon General confirms: Parents in the U.S. are under a consistently high level of stress that can impact their mental and behavioral health and ability to care for their children. Cultural pressures, social media, school safety worries, and social isolation are making parenting more challenging than ever.
According to the advisory, in 2023 33% of parents reported high levels of stress in the month prior, compared to 20% of other adults. What’s more, 41% of parents say most days they are so stressed they can’t function and 48% say their stress is completely overwhelming most days.
Levels of stress so great it impacts day-to-day life can have significant impacts for parents, families, and society.
Studies have shown that children of caregivers who report poor mental health were four times more likely to have poor general health and twice as likely to have mental, behavioral, or developmental challenges.
Parents today face unique and impactful stressors that can trigger or worsen mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Fortunately, there are effective treatments for these conditions, and it’s important for providers, friends, and family members to acknowledge the impact of parental stress and work to help relieve its symptoms.
If you feel like you could hurt yourself or others, help is available. Call 911, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or visit the nearest Emergency Room.
Understanding parental stress.
Stress is how the body responds to pressure. It can be triggered by something new, threatening, unexpected, or out of control. Each person copes with stress differently, and the ability to deal with it can change over time.
The stress response—when the body produces hormones that activate the immune system and trigger a “fight or flight” response—can help you overcome difficult or dangerous situations. But too much stress for too long can impact your physical and mental health.
For parents, caring for children can mean a flood of stressful situations that can increase the risk for conditions such as anxiety and depression. These include:
-
Cultural pressures to meet perceived parenting standards and prepare children for an unknown future
-
Worry about children’s physical and mental health challenges
-
Safety concerns such as bullying, kidnapping, substance use, and school safety
-
Demands on their time from longer work hours or multiple jobs, caring for children and parents, and more
-
Financial stress related to childcare, health and education expenses, and income insecurity
-
Isolation and lack of social support, which can lead to additional stress and short-circuit powerful social coping mechanisms
-
Social media, which can impact children’s mental and social health
-
Multiple caregiving demands, such as also taking care of aging parents
While the Surgeon General’s advisory outlines more sources of parental stress than ever before, there are resources that can help. Parents should prioritize caring for themselves just as they would for any other family member. Recognizing signs that stress is becoming too much is a great place to start.
Related reading: Stress First Aid: A Practical Approach to Caring For Your Mental Health.
When and whom to ask for help.
Everyone handles stress differently, and we all have unique reactions to becoming overwhelmed. If you suspect stress might be getting to be too much, ask yourself these questions:
-
Are my personal relationships functioning well?
-
Do I have a lot of arguments?
-
Am I withdrawing from social interactions?
-
Are things going smoothly at work?
-
Do I have trouble sleeping?
-
Am I eating too much or too little?
-
Do I have thoughts of hurting myself or others?
If you feel that you might hurt yourself or others, call 911 or the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 to speak with someone who can help, or go to the emergency room right away.
Poor relationships, tossing and turning at night, and binge eating (or not eating at all) could all be signs that you’re having difficulty coping with stress, and could be experiencing anxiety or depression.
There are effective treatments that can help. When my patients and I consider treatment plans, we discuss three primary options:
-
Medication: Your doctor can help you decide if one of the many available drug-based treatments is right for you.
-
Therapy: Many patients have success with therapy, which is available in many formats, including convenient virtual visits.
-
Everything else: Once known as “alternative therapies,” strategies like yoga, meditation, spending time outdoors, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are now becoming standard parts of mental health practice.
When it comes to treating anxiety and depression, one size does not fit all. Many patients find relief from a combination of treatments that work well for their individual goals and lifestyle.
Family practitioners and primary care providers are often experienced in mental health concerns, and may prescribe medications that can help or refer you to a specialist.
At the Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic at MedStar Washington Hospital Center we provide all levels of expert, team-based care, including individual and group therapy, outpatient, and partial hospitalization programs.
Parenting is hard, and it’s important to take care of yourself so you can take care of others in your life. If you need help coping with stress, talk with your doctor or contact the Behavioral Health Clinic. Reach out to social connections like friends and neighbors to help combat isolation.
If you see parents in your family or your neighborhood who could use a hand, reach out and offer to help. Watching the kids for a few hours can make a real difference for parents who are stressed.
