A perinatal psychologist works with families during the perinatal period – before and after birth. At the Centre for Perinatal Psychology, we see people for:
Planning
Pregnancy
Postpartum
Parenting
The reasons for seeking help during these times are broad, but include feeling anxious, depressed, having difficulty conceiving, losing a baby, having a sickly infant, not feeling bonded and not enjoying parenthood.
But how would you know if seeing a psychologist during these times would be helpful? It can be hard to know for sure, as there are so many factors that are changing at this time. When women and men struggle during pregnancy or after having a baby, it is hard to know how much to attribute to biology, how much to changing circumstances and whether there is something more serious going on that warrants professional treatment. And what’s normal anyway? First time parents don’t have a benchmark to measure against and it can be hard to tease out whether what you are feeling is simply adjustment to a new life or something more serious.
So here’s one key deciding factor in whether you seek help: if you are distressed by your situation and your distress doesn’t resolve within a couple of weeks, then that is probably a good sign to seek help.
A perinatal psychologist can help if:
You feel distressed
You feel you are not coping
You want more support
Things are not improving on their own
Remember, you are not alone. It is very common to feel wobbly during this life phase, at least at times. At the Centre for Perinatal Psychology, we are used to seeing men, women and infants with a range of concerns. We help stabilise you so you are less wobbly in yourself and in your parenting.
This post originally appeared on centreforperinatalpsychology.com.au and it has been published here with permission.
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