Pregnancy and postpartum mental health focuses on a women’s unique mental health needs from the time of trying to conceive through the first several years of motherhood. Women routinely face intense physical, emotional, and psychological challenges during this time which are unique to the individual’s past and present experiences. Navigating the physical changes of pregnancy and postpartum can be lonely because they may go unspoken in a male dominated world where the female body is often misunderstood. Women may also feel they are expected to enjoy every part of the journey, which leaves little space to process one’s own experience and dislike for certain aspects of the process. Therapy can help women find their voice – whether that’s speaking up to a partner and asking for more support, speaking up to a doctor and getting their needs met in a challenging environment, or advocating at work when the demands of juggling motherhood and work are overbearing.

Therapy provides an empowering space to process all your emotions during motherhood. Additionally, therapy for pregnancy and postpartum will help you understand how your past is impacting your present. Therapy will allow you to live more fully in the present.

Pregnancy and postpartum are unique experiences for every woman, and finding a strong and supportive therapist can be pivotal in changing the trajectory of your journey. Dr. Branda’s focus on pregnancy and postpartum mental health will help you thrive in your life.

• Nausea/Morning sickness

• Body image issues as your body grows and changes

• Hormonal shifts

• Complications that often leave women feeling alone

• Feeling out of control

• Fear of the unknown of birth and new motherhood

• Anxiety or depression

• Relationship or intimacy concerns

• Inability to voice your thoughts/opinions, and feel heard with Doctors

Therapy for pregnant women begins when women are trying to conceive. During this deeply emotional time, the mind and body are already preparing for motherhood. Some journeys are longer than others, and some include loss and complications, or medical interventions. All of these experiences can be beneficial to process as women often question their bodies and their womanhood during these complicated and uncontrollable experiences. Additionally, therapy during pregnancy can support a woman and her changing body. Each woman’s experience of pregnancy is different, but often pregnancy in the US is not treated with the reverence it deserves. This is a time where women can find therapy supportive to connect with their inner experience and begin to connect with their babies. If a woman has experienced trauma, pregnancy can bring up unexpected emotions that may be unknowingly connected to the trauma.

Dr. Branda is a mother, so she understands first-hand the challenges pregnant women face. Therapy that focuses on pregnant women can help them achieve a sense of belonging through the support they receive during the journey. This works provides both specific tools to help women connect to their needs during conception and pregnancy as well as supporting them in processing their feelings about what to expect from birth and motherhood.

• Sleep deprivation

• Breastfeeding challenges

• Shame and guilt for not being able to do it all

• Anxiety or depression

• Birth Trauma

• Loneliness and loss of self

• Complications from delivery

• Navigating the NICU

• Relationship or intimacy issues

Postpartum therapy supports women in the early stages of motherhood, generally for up to one year, but postpartum therapy can last for several years into new motherhood too. Postpartum therapy supports women as they face intense emotional, physical, and psychological changes. New mothers face extraordinary shifts to their lifestyles, physical bodies, and hormone levels. This time can often feel distressing, and with the demands of everyday life or work it can feel impossible to "manage it all.” Each woman’s postpartum experience is deeply impacted by their own childhood and experience with their own parents as well as how their conception, pregnancy, and birthing experience went. Women can leave birthing experiences at extremes of either feeling empowered and transformed, or feeling disempowered and traumatized. Both experiences can be supported and processed with a therapist to support your transition to new motherhood and support your relationship with your baby.

Dr. Branda can help you if you are experiencing challenges during this postpartum period. You do not have to be alone on this journey, it takes a village, and she is honored to become part of some women’s journeys.

Postpartum depression is different from the “baby blues” which about 80% of women experience after birth due to the interaction of hormone fluctuation, sleeplessness, and the psychological impact from giving birth. This involves mood swings, crying fits, and sleep disturbances that occur for about two weeks following delivery.

Postpartum depression brings much more intense feelings and lasts for a longer period. You may have trouble bonding with your baby, suffer from fatigue, eat too much or too little, feel worthless, irritable, and inadequate.

Postpartum anxiety, which is four-times as likely as postpartum depression, is excessive anxiety, fear, worry or concern for the baby. Often mothers fear for the baby’s well-being and safety and this concern can be all-consuming impacting a woman’s ability to grow and heal from her birth as well as bond with her baby.

If you’re suffering from symptoms of postpartum depression or anxiety, set up an appointment with Dr. Branda to fully explore your emotions, concerns, and fears. She can help you discover ways to cope with your feelings and feel in control of your motherhood journey.

Birth trauma is physical or emotional distress caused by a traumatizing experience during birth. Birth trauma can be a threatening experience to the mother or the baby, or it can be an experience that is perceived as threatening. An example is being told “if you don’t push the baby out during this last push, they will lose oxygen.” Or being told “you can either have your perfect birth and harm your baby, or you can be taken into an emergency c-section.” Up to 45% of new moms experience birth trauma. Birth trauma can have a long-term impact on mom, baby, and family planning. There is a higher likelihood of birth trauma in women who had emergency c-sections or whose children had stays in the NICU.

Dr. Branda treats women who have experienced birth trauma and she offers EMDR therapy for birth trauma. Additionally, she works with VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and CBAC (cesarean birth after cesarean) mamas who also often experience traumas during their first or subsequent births.

Finding a safe space to process your experience can change your life and the life of your babies. Developing awareness, identifying your emotions, and finding constructive ways to deal with challenges can help women in every stage of new motherhood. Dr. Branda helps women listen to their instincts and feel confident in their abilities during every step of the pregnancy and postpartum journey.

Call Summit Psychology or book online to have your pregnancy and postpartum mental health issues cared for by a professional, compassionate psychotherapist.