Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health
And, beyond the mental health cost, this founder is stepping up with an idea to change the game. Also woven into the discussion is how career identity theft can compound vulnerabilities during this perinatal period — so we should explore both: solutions for untreated depression and how to prevent career identity theft.
What Is the Cost of Untreated Perinatal Depression?
The phrase Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft isn’t hyperbole. According to a rigorous study, when perinatal mood and anxiety disorders go untreated, the direct and indirect costs add up—including lost productivity, increased health-care usage, social services, preterm births and developmental issues in children.
Mathematica
Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health
For the 2017 U.S. births, the total cost was $14.2 billion over six years.
Mathematica
That’s more than the medical bills alone—it’s about quality of life, long-term effects on children, and strain on families.
Who Pays, What Happens
In the broader framing of Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft, the “who” and “what” are crucial. Mothers often lose work time (absenteeism), perform poorly when present (presenteeism), or drop out of work entirely. Healthcare costs rise not just for mother but for children.
Mathematica
Children born to mothers with untreated PMADs face higher risk of behavioural and developmental disorders. All of this accumulates. Meanwhile, career identity theft — the kind where someone steals credentials or uses another person’s work identity — is less often talked about in this context, but can worsen stress, reduce trust in systems, and undermine financial security just when stability matters most.
The Founder’s Solution: What’s New
The reason Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft is being widely discussed is because a founder (in the Forbes article) is leading a social-enterprise or tech-driven approach to tackle perinatal depression by improving screening, access to mental health support, and reducing barriers like stigma, cost, and timing.
Forbes
Their model emphasises early detection, telehealth, community peer support, and seamless referral pathways. They also advocate safeguarding professional identities for mothers (especially women who need to continue working or building careers) so they are not at risk of career identity theft — being miscredited, losing recognition, or having credentials misused — which can be painfully destabilising during perinatal depression.
Why Screening & Early Treatment Matters
In the framework of Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft, early screening makes all the difference. Studies show that more than half the cost burden occurs early — during pregnancy and the first year postpartum.
Mathematica
If women are diagnosed and treated sooner, many downstream effects (for both mother and child) are prevented or mitigated: fewer preterm births, healthier development, lower healthcare costs, better maternal mental health. The founder’s solution leans into scaling screening (in obstetric settings, via community health, potentially via digital/remote tools). Also part of the solution is protecting mothers’ professional identities, so that treatment, breaks, or disclosures do not risk their career reputations or documentation.
Barriers to Treatment & Career Identity Risks
But Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft also points out the obstacles. Many women do not receive any treatment after diagnosis. Yang, Garlow and others have documented that stigma, cost, lack of access, and ignorance (among providers and patients) are major factors.
Mathematica
MGH Women's Mental Health
Meanwhile, career identity theft — whether by employers, zealots, miscommunication, or unscrupulous record-keepers — can add to the burden, reducing trust and increasing stress. Ensuring secure credentials, proper record-keeping, and fair recognition is part of what the founder’s plan includes.
Real-Life Impacts: Mothers, Children, & Families
To make the message of Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft more human: think of a mother who is battling depression during pregnancy. She may suffer in silence, perhaps because she fears career repercussions, or loses work because she isn’t supported. Her baby may be born early, may have developmental delays. The father or partner picks up more responsibility, financial stress increases. All of this ripples through families. The founder’s solution seeks to break that chain: supportive care, mental health counselling, peer networks, and legal/administrative safeguards for women’s career identity.
Economics & Societal Benefits of Tackling the Problem
When we consider Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft, there’s more than moral reason — there’s financial sense. Economists estimate that much of that $14 billion comes from lost productivity, increased health care and social service costs, and elevated risk of child developmental issues that require further resources.
Mathematica
If the founder’s solution is scaled, cost savings could be substantial: fewer hospital admissions, better maternal well-being, reduced costs in early childhood intervention. Also, protecting career identity helps ensure mothers can return to work, maintain professional growth, which contributes to economic stability for families and society.
What You Can Do — Advocacy, Policy, & Personal Action
Understanding Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft is one thing; acting on it is another.
If you are pregnant or new mom: ask for screening, mental health support, peer support, counselling. Don’t fear asking about how your employer or medical record system protects your professional identity.
If you’re a partner, friend or family: encourage openness, help with childcare or chores, reduce stigma.
If you’re in health care or policy: support programs, fund telehealth, invest in screening tools, ensure perinatal mental health is built into prenatal and postnatal care. Advocate for laws or guidelines that protect professional credentials and identity records.
Preventing Career Identity Theft — Why It Matters
In the context of Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft, we must emphasise the second part: preventing career identity theft. Mothers already under emotional strain are especially vulnerable to unfair workplace practices, misattribution of work, loss of credentials, or poor record keeping that undermines their career progress. The founder’s proposal includes secure credential management, legal protection, and mechanisms where perinatal leave or medical notices do not lead to erasure of contribution or identity. This kind of protection helps reduce anxiety, preserve dignity, and promote long-term professional health.
Looking Ahead — Hope and Change
As the narrative of Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft spreads, there is real momentum. More awareness, better screening protocols, telehealth innovations, peer-led initiatives, and legal protections for career identity are being discussed and piloted. The hope is that by 2030, a much larger proportion of those with PMADs will receive prompt, effective care, and no mother will feel her professional identity is at risk simply because she needed help.
Conclusion
In the end, Untreated Perinatal Depression Costs $14 Billion Every Year, But This Founder Has A Solution. Plus: Prevent Career Identity Theft is more than a headline — it’s a call to action. Perinatal depression is costly in thousands of ways: personal, familial, societal. But we do have solutions: early screening, accessible care, peer support, and protection against career identity misuse. We all benefit when mothers are supported, children are healthy, and careers are respected rather than erased. If you care about maternal mental health, child well-being, and fair treatment, this issue deserves our attention — and our action.
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