Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder therapy for mothers in Davis & online in California
What are Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders?
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are better known as Postpartum Depression or PPD. PPD is a global term that encompasses a full range of perinatal disorders. The symptoms range, but those experiencing PPD may find themselves since they got pregnant or delivered thinking “what happened to me?” You might feel sad, anxious, maybe angry, and not the person you were before. You might be surprised by the overwhelming emotions that are swirling around in your head of worry, fear, regret, or shame. You may not look forward to things as you used to, not want to be around others, including sometimes your baby. All of these feelings are VERY common in PMADs. Postpartum depression and anxiety affect 1 in 7 women.
How are PMADs different than Baby Blues?
The baby blues are less severe, shorter, and more common. Approximately 80 percent of women experience the baby blues. The symptoms often start within a few days of when your baby is born. They can come and go and for up to 2-3 weeks after delivery and are resolved without any treatment.
Who is at risk for PMADs?
PMADs or PPD is caused by a variety of factors. You are at increased risk if you experienced a pregnancy loss or infertility previously, your baby had a NICU admission, or if you have a history of trauma or mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. If you have limited support and stressors in your life this contributes to increased risk as well. You can develop symptoms while you are pregnant, especially if your pregnancy has complications. And while we might know why you feel this way, there is absolutely no reason for that to continue.
You are not alone…
Women experiencing PPD can feel as if they are at the bottom of a deep, dark well. But the good news is that this can and will get better with treatment. PPD responds very well to therapy, and sometimes medication is needed too.
If you’re experiencing PPD, together we will get YOU back and have you feeling good again. We will do this in the following ways: providing space and time for you to talk about how you feel, adding in coping tools, working on you taking care of yourself, increasing your support, and helping you understand why you feel the way you do. I will provide you with resource referrals to complement what we are working on in therapy like books, support groups, lactation consultants, pelvic floor therapy, and doulas. We can also use a technique called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to address any trauma or distressing events you’ve experienced and help to lessen that emotional pain.