Perinatal mental health refers to the emotional and psychological well-being during pregnancy and throughout the perinatal period (pregnancy, post-loss, postpartum). Addressing perinatal mental health issues through counseling not only improves the parent’s mental health but also enhances their ability to provide nurturing and stable caregiving, fostering a positive parenting environment for the child.
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) are easy to associate as the normal difficulty attributed to adjusting to life with a newborn, the "baby blues," and are easily overlooked. However, PMADs not only affect the pregnant person but also other family members. Symptoms can start anytime during the perinatal period.
Common perinatal symptoms include:
- Constant worry
- Feeling that something bad might happen
- Feelings of anger, irritability and/or rage
- Lack of interest in the baby
- Inability to sit still
- Disturbances of sleep and appetite
- Racing thoughts and difficulty quieting your mind
- Nervousness/on edge/anxious, trouble relaxing
- Lack of focus and concentration
- Feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness or numbness
- Possible thoughts of harming the baby or yourself
- Changes in your eating, sleeping, and hygiene that are mood dependent where you may be struggling to take care of yourself on a regular basis because you feel too down to do so
If one or more of the above symptoms resonates with you, I invite you to contact me today for a free consultation. Together, we’ll find the underlying issues that make you feel disconnected from your baby and create a strategy for moving forward. Contact me today to see how I can help.