db1.jpeg

Perinatal Mental Health

\

Perinatal mental health refers to the psychological experience during the planning of parenthood, the journey of fertility, the time throughout pregnancy, and the first two years after giving birth or after the loss of a baby or after bringing an adopted baby home. All of these stages can be quite emotional and tumultuous for a variety of reasons: Fertility journeys are often filled with obstacles that can be trying and disappointing. Women who've experienced sexual assault face both emotional and physical challenges when facing pregnancy and childbirth and child rearing. One's relationship to their parents and their own childhood informs their hopes and expectations of having and raising children.  The first months and years after adoption can be filled with issues of attachment, identity, and special needs. These are just some of the issues that I can help with in therapy. When these issues can be thoroughly processed it can free an individual up to be the parent they want to be.

I have been trained through various classes, workshops, and seminars in the treatment of perinatal mental health issues (Argosy University, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Erickson Institute, CG Jung Institute, Birthways). I have pursued and received a certification from Postpartum Support International in the treatment of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders. I continue to attend conferences and investigate the new research that is done in perinatal mental health in order to share it with my clients.

Postpartum Anxiety and Depression

The postpartum period, or the year following the birth of a child, can be a miraculous and terrifying time for a woman.   As many women find, life with a new baby is a raw and fragile experience. There are many factors that come into play during this period; beginning with the labor and birth of the baby, women experience dramatic hormone shifts, inevitable adjustments to relationships (husband, parents, friends), new financial stressors, identity issues, and issues of social support. These are experiences typical of a postpartum period, but it is not uncommon for there to also be health issues, colic, a traumatic birth, or a loss, all compounding the stress and emotions following a birth.  Emotionally and psychologically, it is a dynamic time that can surprise a woman with depression and/or anxiety symptoms.

Psychological and psychiatric disorders occur for about 20% of women during their postpartum period. These disorders are on a spectrum starting from what many know as the “baby blues” -- which lasts only a few weeks and includes feelings of overwhelm, tearfulness, nervousness, and confusion -- to a much more rare and extreme disorder called postpartum psychosis -- experiencing delusions and/or hallucinations. In between lie postpartum adjustment disorders, postpartum depression, anxiety, and postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Aside from the “baby blues,” postpartum depression is perhaps the most commonly identified postpartum condition, and yet anxiety symptoms are also frequently reported. Postpartum depression or anxiety lasts up to 1 year after delivery and includes excessive sensitivity, low self-esteem, apathy, withdrawal, appetite disturbance, lack of pleasure, function impairment and marked distress.  Women may feel overwhelming fatigue or insomnia, disconnection, anxiety attacks, suicidal thoughts, and--in the case of postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder--intrusive thoughts of harm coming to their baby.

A new mom is expected to immediately fall in love with her newborn baby, and to naturally take to motherhood, breastfeeding her baby, and connecting to her baby. To feel anything but this can be confusing and shameful. To whom can she admit that she doesn’t feel connected to her baby, that she has visions of dropping him down the stairs, that she doesn’t want to get out of bed to care for her baby?  It becomes the job of those around her--a partner, parents, friends--to connect her to support, as it is the mother’s health that comes first in these moments. Postpartum depression and anxiety are temporary conditions that are treatable, and the sooner they are identified and a mom finds the right treatment--whether it be therapy, medication, group support--the sooner she can enjoy being a mom.

Additional Resources: