A new study finds the idea of becoming of "super parents" can trigger mental health conditions in new parents.

Carrie Wendel-Hummel, a sociologist, explained that it's not just the mother who should seek perinatal care but fathers, too.

Parents should also watch out for other perinatal conditions and not just depression, she stressed.

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She reminded parents that anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis and bi-polar disorder are shaped by circumstances surrounding the fact of having a baby.

Hummel explained that for years medical researchers attributed post-partum depression in new mothers to hormonal changes despite evidence to the contrary.

Child birth itself is life changing and a life stressor. Additional evidence suggests that those are also risk factors in post-partum depression.

In this study, low income parents said ongoing struggles tending to their newborn such as quality childcare, reliable transportation and safe housing often caused depression.

Hummel explained these parents were unable to afford mental health treatment because their Medicaid was cut-off after post birth appointments. This prevented mothers from having post-partum depression treatments.

Researchers also found out that middle-class parents tend to place too much pressure on themselves to be the perfect parents.

Hummel said middle-class fathers and mothers often struggle to balance their work and home life.

This can exacerbate mental health condition because if everything isn't perfect, new parents feel like failures.

Hummel noticed that fathers often suffered from working in firms that didn't have family friendly leave policies or from the lack of preparation for their upcoming fatherhood.

Most people tend to focus on the mother and baby. Nobody is asking how the father is doing, she noted.

Hummel believes there is a need to recognize the prevalence of these additional perinatal mental health conditions.

We must find ways to screen them to help with their depression, she said.