Perintatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders. It’s basically just an acronym that encompasses ALL of the possible mental health stuff that can come up in trying to conceive, infertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. It includes depression, anxiety, panic, OCD, trauma, bipolar disorder, PTSD, psychosis, and more.

Symptoms can vary somewhat person to person and appear up to the first year following the birth or additional of a child into your family. Up to 15% of postpartum people experience significant depression.

Some common symptoms include:

• Feelings of anger or irritability

• Lack of interest in the baby

• Appetite and sleep disturbance

• Crying and sadness

• Feelings of guilt, shame or hopelessness

• Loss of interest, joy or pleasure in things you used to enjoy

• Possible thoughts of harming the baby or yourself

Information from Postpartum Support International

Around 6% of pregnant people and 10% of postpartum people experience anxiety. Anxiety diagnoses can include panic and OCD.

• Constant worry

• Feeling that something bad is going to happen

• Racing thoughts

• Disturbances of sleep and appetite

• Inability to sit still

• Physical symptoms like dizziness, hot flashes, and nausea

Information from Postpartum Support International

Basically, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) that occurs in the postpartum period.

Some common symptoms include:

• Obsessions, also called intrusive thoughts, which are persistent, repetitive thoughts or mental images related to the baby. These thoughts are very upsetting and not something the woman has ever experienced before.

• Compulsions, where the mom may do certain things over and over again to reduce her fears and obsessions. This may include things like needing to clean constantly, check things many times, count or reorder things.

• A sense of horror about the obsessions

• Fear of being left alone with the infant

• Hypervigilance in protecting the infant

• Moms with postpartum OCD know that their thoughts are bizarre and are very unlikely to ever act on them.

Information from Postpartum Support International

Several ways. Since you’ve found us, that’s an option. You can schedule a consultation with one of our therapists here.

Postpartum Support International also has coordinators that are able to connect with individuals and families in need and help them find resources. You can call or text the PSI Helpline at 1-800-944-4773 or fill out this form to be contacted by a volunteer. PSI has a whole bunch of helpful resources, including free online support groups.

If you aren’t interested in seeing one of our therapists, you can also search the PSI provider directory for a clinician that fits your needs.

If you are in the Milwaukee area, Moms Mental Health Initiative is also a great resource with a trusted provider list.

Basically, if you’re here reading about it and wondering if maybe you should…. you probably should.

In general, most people wait longer than necessary before they seek help for any mental health concern. We’re big advocates of early help, but see people from “Hey I think I might struggle when I do try to get pregnant” all the way through “My kid is 12 and I’m not ok”.

It’s never too early, it’s never too late.

It happens. Asking for help is HARD. Finding a therapist you click with and gets you and what you’re going through is even harder.

But there is help out there. You deserve to feel better. We get that it’s hard to decide to come to therapy, and SUPER hard to actually show up. Even searching for somebody online is a big first step. We’re here to walk you through all the other steps.

Yep, absolutely. Up to 10% of non birthing partners will have clinically significant mental health symptoms following the birth or addition of a child into their family.

We absolutely work with partners, too!

Yep. While some providers wouldn’t label that “perinatal”, your story and losses matter. Those losses and the grief that comes with them may include actual pregnancy, embryo, or child losses, but also the loss of the family story or journey that you thought you and your partner would have.

First off - your story matters, and it is safe to tell your story here.

We have therapists that are supportive and validating of people who have had to terminate a pregnancy, no matter the story or reason behind it.

Emily also has experience and knowledge providing support to people currently making a decision to terminate (either for medical reasons, called TFMR, or otherwise) or awaiting a procedure. If you are in immediate need of support in this area, please reach out to her directly at 414-301-3411 or emily@erawellnesstherapy.com. Please note that our voicemail and email systems are confidential, but you may want to be cautious about the information you leave on either. You may indicate this need for urgency and confidentiality by using the phrase “I am looking for resources for stress management”.

If we need to return your call or email, we will not identify the reason that we are contacting you, just “Emily from ERA Wellness returning your call”.