Pregnant?
Are you pregnant and not feeling as well as you thought you would?
The hormonal changes, body changes, and stressors of carrying a baby and preparing for them to come into your world can be overwhelming and stressful whether you weren’t expecting to conceive or if you desperately wanted to be pregnant.
Beginning mental health treatment with a therapist who specializes in prenatal (perinatal) and postpartum emotional challenges and mood disorders (i.e., anxiety and depression) is very valuable to women who have a previous history of dealing with stress, anger, depression or anxiety.
These emotional challenges tend to re-emerge during pregnancy even if you have been dealing with these challenges well prior to being pregnant.
New baby?
Having a new baby, whether it’s your first or not, can bring all of your emotional struggles front and center.
The pressures to be your competent self at a time when you are at your most vulnerable and needing to rely on others can bring up feelings of grief, loss and anger for women. Many women also experience catastrophic and distressing fears of their baby’s and family’s safety (i.e., postpartum anxiety).
Postpartum depression can make you feel like you’re not doing a good enough job, that your baby/family doesn’t need you, or that they’d be better off without you. If you are experiencing these things, please reach out to me or another therapist for help.
You are not alone in this experience and therapy can help you process your feelings, think with more clarity, and navigate your grief and loss as well as your joys and gratitude.