Therapists and counselors also struggle with mental health. Licensed mental health professional Jenna Overbaugh treats anxiety disorders for a living, but after the birth of her son she struggled with postpartum anxiety, depression and OCD.
.
.
Jenna always assumed that her training and profession would have her well prepared to handle anxiety and depression issues in own life. After a traumatic delivery experience, Jenna began to experience intrusive thoughts centered on accidentally harming her newborn. The thoughts expanded and against her own professional advice, Jenna found herself unwittingly engaging in the avoidance and safety behaviors that she logically knew fuel the problem.
Jenna found herself struggling with a trifecta of problems:
- Anxiety and intrusive thoughts.
- Engaging in rituals she knew were wrong but felt powerless to resist.
- Feeling like a professional failure and fraud.
Contrary to popular belief, therapists don’t always have their own therapists. Jenna found herself resisting professional help at first.
Luckily, Jenna did find herself an excellent therapist that helped her work through the processes that put her on the road to recovery.
Jenna’s experience taught her that there is giant hole in our society where the basics of mental health for new mothers should be. Without having the benefit of the knowledge Jenna has, the average new mom is totally lost and terrified when confronted with the common mental health struggles that can pop up after childbirth. There is plenty of information about the nuts and bolts of delivery and caring for a newborn but virtually no discussion of even basic postpartum mental health concepts.
New mothers are often lead down somewhat destructive paths based on addressing mental health issues with “body-centric” solutions. In addition, Jenna and I briefly acknowledge the “toxic mom culture” that often buries new mothers in ideal images and ideas, driving many new moms into extreme child-centered rituals based on “proper” diet and care. As always, extreme expressions of almost anything can lead to disordered thinking and behaviors.
Jenna made excellent points about how new mothers can be particularly susceptible to obsessive compulsive patterns given the connection between OCD, responsibility and uncertainty.
If you are a new mom or soon-to-be new mom, Jenna offers the following mental health advice:
- Advocate for yourself. You are not broken. You have been abandoned by both society and a very weak maternal mental health system in general.
- Educate yourself. Knowing the reality of postpartum mental health issues can go a long way toward keeping you out of the dark if problems do pop up.
- Find yourself a supportive “mom tribe” that will allow you to share your struggles and speak openly about the real problems you’re going through. Odds are, other moms are going through them too! Can’t find a support group? Create one!
- Make smart use of social media to find good information and support for your mental health issues. Set aside the “perfect mom” accounts and search out real postpartum information, resources, and support online.
- Talk to someone! Find a good therapist that treats postpartum mental health issues, and set up an appointment before you give birth. You can always cancel the appointment when the time comes. Don’t wait until the wheels fall off before reaching out for help that might be six weeks away based on therapist waiting lists.
Find Jenna, including her podcast “All The Hard Things”, at https://www.jennaoverbaugh.com/ or follow her on Instagram at jenna.overbaugh.
—
This post was previously published on theanxioustruth.com.
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often 
Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It 
The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex 
..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Log in if you wish to renew an existing subscription.
Username
First Name
Last Name
Password
Password Again
Choose your subscription level
- Yearly - $50.00 - 1 Year
- Monthly - $6.99 - 1 Month
Credit / Debit Card PayPal Choose Your Payment Method
Auto Renew
Subscribe to The Good Men Project Daily Newsletter By completing this registration form, you are also agreeing to our Terms of Service which can be found here.Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock
The post Postpartum Anxiety, OCD and Mental Health Issues W/Jenna Overbaugh [Podcast] appeared first on The Good Men Project.
Original Article
