Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders
During your pregnancy or after becoming a new parent, depression and anxiety can feel like: intense worry/fear | feeling “on edge” or hypervigilant most of the time | intense bursts of anger or increased irritability | unable to eat or sleep | finding yourself crying often or always on the verge of tears most of the day/most days | the feeling of losing complete control of your thoughts and emotions “losing your mind” | experience really distressing thoughts about yourself and/or your child that scare or disturb you and that you can’t make go away | feel detached from your baby and those you love most | feeling “numb” or “empty” | feel alone | feel like it was a mistake to become a mother/parent | worried that you might hurt your baby or yourself | feel like no one has ever felt this bad | feel intense guilt or shame for experiencing any of these symptoms.
Depression and Anxiety are also not the only disorders that are experienced during the perinatal period—good times [heavy sarcasm].
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Postpartum Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Perinatal Bipolar Disorder, and the more rare Postpartum Psychosis are all disorders that can show up during this period.
BUT
I want you to know…
You are Not Alone
You Are Not to Blame
and With Help You Will Feel Better.
PLEASE NOTE
This assessment is a screening tool commonly and widely used to screen for Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders called the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). It is not meant to be used for the purpose of diagnosing yourself, but rather meant to provide you and your trusted healthcare provider with some preliminary information to help you both determine if seeking out a full in-depth assessment, diagnosis, and treatment with a qualified mental healthcare provider is necessary at this time.
Next Steps…
Find the right perinatal therapist in Miami for you
Make a list of the top challenges you’re looking to work on in therapy. You’ll want to ask a potential therapist if they have experience helping clients with these challenges in the past and what’s their approach to helping a client with these challenges.
E.g.“I’m struggling to cope after the birth of my son as it felt really traumatic for me. Have you helped clients with this in the past? What approach did you use to help them?”
Set up a chat with some of the clinicians specializing in perinatal counseling in your area and who are licensed in your state. And when you are searching, you’ll want to narrow down some important criteria related to their service fees, insurance coverage, mode of therapy they offer (tele-health and/or in-person), and distance from where you live. Some clinicians provide this information on their websites. You can find answers related to the questions above for my practice HERE—>.
Once you’ve narrowed down your search and have some potential candidates in mind, we’re always happy to hear from you and set up a time to chat about potentially working together and answering any questions you may have. During a brief phone or virtual chat, we are also able to get a feel for each other and you can identify your comfort level with us before committing to a first paid session. Think of it as speed dating—without the dating.
If it seems like I may be the right therapist for you, then go ahead and click the button below to schedule your free 20min secure virtual chat with me or call/text me directly so you can decide if working with me will be right for you.
OR
CALL/TEXT 📞 (754) 216-5546
I respond to voicemails/texts within 24hrs