Pregnancy is often described as a beautiful time. For many women it is also a time of anxiety, cognitive overload, and exhaustion nobody prepared them for.

Bringing home a new baby is a profound shift—full of joy, exhaustion, and emotional ups and downs. While some feelings are part of the “typical” postpartum experience, others may be signs of a deeper struggle like postpartum depression or anxiety.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I made what I thought was a responsible decision and scheduled a consultation with a mental health professional who I had seen previously. She assured me she had worked with pregnant people before…

I'm excited to share that I have been featured in a Well+Good article discussing the critical topic of weight stigma in prenatal care. In the article, I highlight the struggles many of my clients face, including being denied fertility treatment due to BMI and receiving condescending nutrition advice. Read more to understand the importance of compassionate and inclusive prenatal care.

You might feel as though your partner is just a roommate during this time or you might not even like your partner right now. It happens, but just because it’s common doesn’t mean we don’t want to address it and attend to it. Having a baby is a different experience for each person in the partnership…

Gender disappointment is a shorthand way of describing numerous reasons why someone has a preference or feels disappointment about the sex of their baby.

Grief is at the center of the intense and complex emotions around embryo disposition, says Emma Basch, a psychologist in D.C. who counsels people struggling with infertility.

Anxiety is a normal and expected part of pregnancy because it’s a normal, expected and necessary part of being a human. While some degree of anxiety is typical, if your worry is feeling all consuming, gets in the way of daily life or is impacting your sleep or physical health, you may have an anxiety disorder.

It turns out EMDR practitioners agree that EMDR is a great option if you’ve experienced birth trauma. (Or any other trauma for that matter.) I decided to interview 4 EMDR clinicians for this piece. These therapists are Emma Basch, Psy.D., Julie Bindeman, Psy.D, Sultana Karim, M.A., LCPC, LPC, CCTP, Megan MacCutcheon, LPC, PMH-C.

Congratulations – you’re pregnant! Perhaps you’ve spent years seeking fertility treatment, are pregnant after a loss or relied on a gamete donor or gestational carrier, or maybe conceiving without intervention was simple for you. You’ve scheduled your OB or midwife appointment and are diligently taking your prenatal vitamins. But are you taking care of your emotional health?

Topics covered include perinatal mental health and matrescence.

If you are at high risk of developing prenatal depression, Dr. Basch recommends starting therapy while trying to conceive or early in your pregnancy to maintain your mental health throughout the perinatal period