Spring was a great time for Women’s Reproductive Health events in New Jersey. I was fortunate enough to attend and also was invited to present at La Leche League of the Garden State’s Annual Conference in Jamestown, New Jersey. I also went to an event hosted by St. Clare’s Hospital and the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey. I had so much fun meeting and seeing some virtual colleagues/friends, such as Ruth Callahan and Colleen White at LLL

There are no easy tips for coping with the tragedy of the loss the families in Sandy Hook, Connecticut are experiencing. It is normal to feel a lot of strong emotions: grief, anger, helplessness, loss, guilt. To feel strong emotion is to be normal. The northeast United States hasn’t recovered from the massive destruction of Hurricane Sandy. And yet another event brings epic grief to our area and our country. There are no easy fixes for all of these normal feelings, as the

Originally published November 5, 2012. Unless you live under a rock and don’t go out at all, you have to know that Jersey Shore’s Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is a mom! Her baby boy, Lorenzo, was born this August. Snooki has been showing him off in beautiful pics on her official Twitter and Facebook feed. Snooki became famous as a fightin’ boozin’ bad-girl with her group of pals on the show, Jersey Shore . Millions scrutinized her as she rumbled with her frenemies living in thei

by Brandy Ash Myers, NCC This post shares a personal birth story and reflection. It is offered to foster understanding and connection, not as clinical guidance. Today i s a beautiful guest post by Brandy Ash Myers, a wonderful on-line friend of mine. She experienced postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress (childbirth onset) during the birth of her first child. Now, during her second pregnancy, she was moved to write her birth story, as a facet

Originally posted October 15, 2012. Benedetta Leuner, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Ohio State University, released a new study on Saturday, 10/13/2012, during a talk at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in New Orleans. Using rats, Leuner and her colleagues study the effects of pregnancy on the brain. In a study released last year, Leuner and her colleagues found that the brains of unstressed new rat mothers had a

I’d love to share with you a chapter from new book, BirthTouch: Shiatsu and Acupressure for the Childbearing Year. It’s available on Amazon for purchase So – good question – how much stress in pregnancy is too much? Like many things in life, the question of how stress affects a woman’s pregnancy does not have a simple answer. Because each individual has her own emotional and physical tolerance for stress, exactly how much stress is a causative factor for depression and an

I met Ivy at Postpartum Support International’s Conference in 2011. She had such a nice feeling about her. Her accessibility, strength, humility and intelligence were quite strongly evident. Of course I had to kindle her book when it came out. Ivy, as she says, gives us a picture of the “ordinary postpartum depression” experience. But her personal story is about so much more than postpartum depression. I had a lot of emotions as I read her personal story and learned about

How Long Must We Ask for Compassionate Care? Why aren’t our childbirth websites and our perinatal mental health websites linked? Part One of an interview with Walker Karraa MFA, MA CD(DONA) This interview highlights the perspective of a professional working in the field of perinatal mental health, sharing clinical insight, experience, and approaches that support women and families during the childbearing year. “ Pregnant and postpartum women are particularly vulnerable to moo

Originally posted June 7, 2012. ”Positive feeling systems must be built and maintained intentionally (as part of couples therapy or...

Originally posted May 29, 2012. ”Therapeutic horticulture...provides positive distraction and attentional engagement…(which) mediates ...

For the American Psychological Association’s Mental Health Month Blog Party, I chose to write about a topic we don’t talk about enough: being bullied as an adult. This is my experience of moving into a comfortable suburban neighborhood in northern New Jersey — and discovering that exclusion doesn’t always end after adolescence. Eleven years ago, my husband and I stretched our budget to move into a town with a good school system. Like many families, we hoped to build community

Originally posted April 11, 2012. "Pets respond eagerly to care and attention, offering unconditional love and non-threatening...

Originally published April 2, 2012. Understanding how labor patterns have changed can help reduce fear, self-blame, and unnecessary anxiety around childbirth. Research was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Katherine Laughon, MD, and her colleagues, D. Ware Branch, M.D., Julie Beaver, M.S, and Jun Zhang, Ph.D., M.D., (2012) examined differences in childbirth labor patterns over the past fifty years, comparing data from a large study in the 1960’

Originally posted April 1, 2012. Science and Sensibility I am honored and hope that I can do a good job for Lamaze International for the month of April as their Guest Community Manager for the Science and Sensibility. Stop in here and take a look at my introduction and the the happenings over at Science and Sensibility for the month of April! thanks! Take care,

Originally published March 12, 2012. Mindbody practices have so many benefits, you’d have to order online from outside the US to be able...

Originally published February 27, 2012. Share Your Story – Postpartum Psychosis Janet’s Experience – Postpartum Psychosis & Recovery THINK BEFORE YOU READ Janet’s story is graphic, yet it is a story of recovery. If you are currently experiencing scary thoughts, please do not read this article, as it may trigger negativity. Instead, immediately reach out to get the help you need. Tell a close family member or friend to take you to the doctor. Call a crisis line. If you feel y

Originally published February 20, 2012. In this interview, a mother shares her personal birth story in her own words, offering insight into the emotional, physical, and relational experience of childbirth. Ann Kirchner, CD(DONA) has graciously agreed to share her personal story of her birth, birth trauma, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and her struggle to just get recognition and diagnosis and treatment for severe postpartum depression. Her story is very important. Sprea

Originally published February 11, 2012. You remember the intensity at the beginning of your relationship: you were enveloped in an...

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. – Dalai Lama Dr. Ann Becker-Schutte wrote a blog post called Invisible Pain , discussing how people with chronic invisible illnesses such as fibromyalgia, diabetes, Cushings Disease, etc. might be silently suffering and dismissed as having pain “all in their head.” Her post reminded me of a video on You Tube posted on Facebook by one of my therapist friends, Carol Rosen . It shows a man who, with special glasses, can tel

Originally published January 1, 2012. Chris Brogan, web entrepreneur, and also a depression survivor himself, has a blog topic/exercise called “My Three Words.” He uses this exercise the New Year as a way to create what he calls his “guiding pillars” to focus his business on the new year. Ala Chris Brogan, I’m going to borrow his idea and create “My Three Words for Mental Health in 2012.” I’d love it if you’d leave your three words to improve and maintain your mental he