This thesis was focused on parent’s mental health during the perinatal period. Fear related to childbirth is common in mothers. Chapter one provides a meta-ethnographic synthesis of literature exploring mothers’ experiences of fear related to childbirth. Three meta-themes were identified which showed what it was like for women to experience fear related to childbirth, external factors than influenced their fear (e.g. the media) and internal factors (e.g. coping strategies). This study illustrated the complexity of mothers’ experiences and how fear related to childbirth can impact quality of life. The implications of these findings, and clinical recommendations, are discussed. There is increasing recognition that fathers may experience low mood in the postnatal period. Chapter two explores how fathers talk about paternal postnatal depression (PND). Six fathers who considered themselves to have had paternal PND took part in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using discourse analysis. The results showed that PND was constructed as something that happens to women rather than men. They highlighted the difficulties men have talking about PND and how masculine identities were used to account for this difficulty. Finally, men constructed themselves as being deficient fathers when they had paternal PND. This study has significant implications for how PND is talked about with men. Chapter three presents a reflective account of conducting the research, which was written from the perspective of a parent. The focus was on the impact that the researcher may have had on the study and the effect that the study had on the researcher. It encompassed the whole process from developing ideas to potential areas of future study. The importance of terminology in mental health was discussed as well as what it is like conducting research on parents as a parent. The chapter ends with reflections on the researcher’s epistemological position.