Perinatal Mental Health

You may be pregnant or have just given birth to your baby or many months postpartum and find yourself wondering: is what I am feeling normal?

Being pregnant and parenting are experiences that can fall all over the map. These are often times when we end up feeling so many conflicting emotions at once — happiness, exhaustion, grief, excitement, confusion, fear. You name it. I hear from a lot of women who seek therapy from me that they find they have just not been feeling like themselves, or like they have lost themselves. You may be experiencing this, or you may be…

• Not enjoying this time as much as you thought you would, or finding it harder than you anticipated
• Spending more time worrying about your baby’s safety and health than you think you should
• Worrying about your own mortality now that you have another life that you are responsible for
• Feeling disconnected emotionally from your new baby who everyone tells you you should be over the moon about
• Struggling with feeling so overwhelmed that you aren’t able to find any enjoyment in this period
• Feeling frustrated with your partner, like you can’t get a break, and like they don’t understand what you’re going through
• You can’t get images or thoughts out of your head about something bad happening to yourself or your baby and it’s really distressing you

If any of this sounds like you, I’m here to help and you are not alone.

What does therapy for your pregnancy or postpartum struggles look like?

Matrescence, the developmental transition to motherhood, brings with it a complex array of emotions. Just like adolescence brings body changes, hormone changes, and identity changes, matrescence does the same. What society tells us should be an idyllic transition is more realistically one that is difficult, wonderful, confusing, inspiring, and challenging all at once.

Up to 1 in 7 women will experience postpartum depression or anxiety, and for many women these symptoms actually begin during pregnancy. These incredibly common experiences are still not talked about as openly as they should be and many women only come to know about them when they find themselves suffering.

As a clinician certified in perinatal mental health and having completed Level A training in Interpersonal Psychotherapy, an evidenced-based intervention shown to be effective in treating postpartum depression, as well as being trained in EMDR to address trauma that may surface during this period of life, I work with women through pregnancy and the postpartum period to help them promote their wellbeing, access the support they need, and integrate these transitional periods of life into their larger life stories. In my work with women in the perinatal period, we focus on:

• alleviating symptoms
• setting realistic expectations for yourself and your experiences
• addressing conflicts that can arise in relationships during this time
• addressing role transitions that are occurring
• addressing losses that come naturally with this time, such as pregnancy loss, difficulty becoming pregnant, and loss of parts of what life looked like before pregnancy and parenting
• help resolve trauma associated with infertility, birth, postpartum experiences

When going through the transition to parenthood, the role shifts, responsibility shifts, and changes in relationships can be a lot at once. While parenthood brings so many wonderful things, it can also put strain on relationships. When working with women in the postpartum period, I welcome their partners into sessions occasionally to explore how the unit can better support each other through the transition and help partners understand what the birth parent may be experiencing.

My goal in working with women through their pregnancy and postpartum phases is to help them move through these complex periods of life with support, compassion, and skills and tools to promote well being.