Positive Psychology and Pregnancy

by | May 1, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

If you google “mental health and pregnancy” you will see information on post partum depression, psychiatric disorders, substance abuse etc. It is common knowledge and well supported by the research that mental health impacts our physical health and can impact the length of gestation and development of our babies. As mothers we want nothing more than to develop healthy happy babies but asking a pregnant woman not to be stressed so that we will not negatively impact the health of our babies is like telling someone not to think about pink elephants.

Women have enough pressure on us during pregnancy, being primarily responsible for the growth of a human being is hard work and can be very intimidating. Its difficult to find any pregnancy information that is not focused on negativity in some way, warnings about this, guilt about that, ample evidence to show to us that we are not prepared.

Moms mental health blog
The medical model of pregnancy which focuses on preventing, diagnosing, and treating the complications that can occur during pregnancy lends itself to a tendency to worry and stress. Seeking medical attention and expertise is important during pregnancy but the constant focus on what could go wrong obviously leaves us wondering and overanalyzing everything.
The medical model forces us to believe that we must over educate ourselves and rely on medical providers’ expertise in order to do something that our bodies were naturally made to do. This constant focus on what could go wrong leaves us feeling like we are inadequate mothers.

What are women to do to counteract all this negativity so we can move forward and be loving, confident and positive mothers throughout pregnancy and after?

Here are some tips to get you started:

^

Believe in your own power.

Women have been having babies forever. Every country has different models they use; some use the medical model, some more akin to doula philosophy. Regardless of which philosophy you follow, believe that pregnancy is a natural process and your body is prepared for it. Trusting in yourself and your body will relive some the stress off of you, believe me you are not completely in control anyway your body will take over and do what it needs to in order to prepare for the birth. Having faith and letting go will be good for your mental health.
^

Self care for your own sake.

Take care of yourself, not because you’re pregnant, not for the baby; do it for you. Know that you are strong and you are loved and anything that you do for your own health or mental health is also good for your baby. Take time to meditate, workout, watch your favorite show. Whatever your healthy self care go-to’s are do them! When we’re pregnant its easy to focus all of our time and energy on what is best for the baby but this way of thinking can lead to a lot of extra fear of not being good enough. Remember that taking care of YOU is taking care of your baby and you both deserve it.
^

Connect with your support system of strong women.

Being pregnant can be isolating, most likely you’re surrounded by people outpouring love to you but being able to really speak to them honestly about your fears and desires can be vulnerable and difficult. Leaning on your friends, mother, sister and really being open with them about how you’re feeling can create great connections. Being honest and open about your fears and desires can lead to getting very valuable advice from insiders within your social support network. You just may learn that they had the same fears or desires about their pregnancies and often these can be difficult to share. This can be especially helpful if you have had a previous loss. Miscarriages happen to 1 in 4 women but there is such great stigma around this that even amongst other women we rarely talk about this. It is important to label our emotions and acknowledge them if we are to move on and lead with love.

0 Comments

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published.