Mothers often experience emotional changes after giving birth. These can include "baby blues" as well as postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and obsessive compulsive symptoms which can make early parenthood extra hard. Up to 20% of women experience depression in postpartum and even more experience bothersome, intense symptoms of stress and anxiety. For many moms, intrusive thoughts, or urges to check, clean, or mentally review are new and scary symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). If you are feeling overwhelmed after having a baby, you are not alone. Working with a maternal mental health therapist can help.
At Bloom Psychology, we provide specialized, evidence-based treatment for mothers, fathers and couples facing postpartum mental health challenges.
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Common topics in therapy for postpartum mental health:
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Feeling overwhelmed in postpartum
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Numbness, sadness, difficulty enjoying things
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Stress, worry, anxiety
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Scary, unwanted thoughts and urges to fix "what ifs" that feel overwhelming
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Optimizing sleep to increase resilience
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Improving your caregiving support system
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Attending to your needs as a parent
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Specific and tailored information about early child development and evidence-based infant care practices
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Helping to nurture a connection with your parenting partner(s)
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Therapy During Pregnancy & Preparation for Postpartum
Pregnancy can be a challenging experience, both physically and emotionally. You might be experiencing intense emotions, worrying about the health and safety of your growing baby, or encountering new life stressors. If you have a history of depression, anxiety or trauma, sometimes these issues re-surface in pregnancy. Having a safe, supportive place to process these feelings and to prepare for the fundamental change that is parenthood is excellent preventative care.
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Common therapy topics in prenatal therapy:
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Emotional changes
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Anxiety in pregnancy
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Processing trauma, including history of prior pregnancy losses or traumatic birth and postpartum
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Prenatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
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Physical changes
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Preparation for birth
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Preparation for baby care
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Prevention of postpartum depression and anxiety
Therapy for Postpartum Challenges, and Beyond
We are parenting during a unique time. There are more families with both parents in the workplace, more families who don't have enough family support making postpartum, parenting and childcare more overwhelming than it has ever been before. As and experienced perinatal psychologist, I help mothers, parents and couples address overwhelm of parenthood.
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Common therapy topics in postpartum and beyond:
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Adjustment to parenthood
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Birth trauma
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Sexual health and intimacy after having a baby
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Managing caregivers, communication, assertiveness, boundaries
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Return to work, work-family adjustment and management
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Early parenting challenges and nurturing early attachment