This comprehensive reference and text synthesizes a vast body of clinically useful knowledge about women's mental health and health care. Coverage includes women's psychobiology across the life span--sex differences in neurobiology and psychopharmacology and psychiatric aspects of the reproductive cycle--as well as gender-related issues in assessment and treatment of frequently encountered psychiatric disorders. Current findings are presented on sex differences in epidemiology, risk factors, presenting symptoms, treatment options and outcomes, and more. Also addressed are mental health consultation to other medical specialties, developmental and sociocultural considerations in service delivery, and research methodology and health policy concerns.

Second edition of a leading book on birth trauma, explaining everything you, your family and friends need to know about birth trauma: what causes it, how it affects your relationships, how to treat it, where to find support and how to make a complaint or take legal action. Written by the CEO of the Birth Trauma Association.

Postpartum depression has become a more recognized mental illness over the past decade as a result of education and increased awareness. Traumatic childbirth, however, is still often overlooked, resulting in a scarcity of information for health professionals. This is in spite of up to 34% of new mothers reporting experiencing a traumatic childbirth and prevalence rates rising for high risk mothers, such as those who experience stillbirth or who had very low birth weight infants. This ground-breaking book brings together an academic, a clinician and a birth trauma activist. Each chapter discusses current research, women’s stories, the common themes in the stories and the implications of these for practice, clinical case studies and a clinician’s insights and recommendations for care. Topics covered include: mothers’ perspectives, fathers’ perspectives, the impact on breastfeeding, the impact on subsequent births, PTSD after childbirth and EMDR treatment for PTSD. This book is a valuable resource for health professionals who come into contact with new mothers, providing the most current and accurate information on traumatic childbirth. It also presents mothers’ experiences in a manner that is accessible to women, their partners, and families.

Postnatal PTSD, often referred to as birth trauma, is an underdiagnosed and misunderstood condition. Often mistaken for postnatal depression and with 4% of women developing the condition after giving birth, it is essential that health professionals learn to recognise and prevent postnatal PTSD. The book supports professionals to better understand, recognise, treat and help prevent birth trauma. It covers the impact of postnatal PTSD on bonding and relationships, birth trauma in Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, how to support women having another baby and more. An accessible guide to supporting parents with postnatal PTSD, this book is essential reading for healthcare professionals and those involved with the birthing process.

Current research and clinical observations suggest pronounced gender-based differences in the ways people respond to traumatic events. Most notably, women evidence twice the rate of PTSD as men following traumatic exposure. This important volume brings together leading clinical scientists to analyze the current state of knowledge on gender and PTSD. Cogent findings are presented on gender-based differences and influences in such areas as trauma exposure, risk factors, cognitive and physiological processes, comorbidity, and treatment response. Going beyond simply cataloging gender-related data, the book explores how the research can guide us in developing more effective clinical services for both women and men. Incorporating cognitive, biological, physiological, and sociocultural perspectives, this is an essential sourcebook and text.

This text examines the great variey of mental health disorders that can affect women during pregnancy and after giving birth. Issues such as infertility and child abuse are covered and case descriptions and personal accounts are also provided.

Postpartum Mental Health Disorders: A Casebook offers brief, practical guidance on the recognition and management of postpartum mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, personality disorders and eating disorders.

This book helps you throughout your pregnancy and postpartum/postnatal recovery. By helping you understand what you are feeling, and teaching you empirically validated new skills so you can manage your changing moods, you can work toward feeling better. Becoming a new parent is one of the biggest changes one can face in life. You are experiencing enormous changes biologically, hormonally, and emotionally. Your whole life may seem uprooted. It makes sense that you might be feeling significant mood changes as well. With one out of five mothers and one out of ten partners experiencing depression and anxiety when having a baby, this workbook will remind you that you are not alone. This workbook is written with sleep-deprived new parents in mind, providing helpful information in short, digestible segments. These are intermixed with thought-provoking activities such as brief journaling prompts and suggestions for tangible steps to make small, realistic changes. You can pick it up and put it down, reading it on your timing, without the information becoming overwhelming. The workbook covers the entire range of mood symptoms, from the Baby Blues, to anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, OCD, and more. The Pregnancy and Postpartum Mood Workbook uses inclusive language and content applicable to all new parents. There are chapters uniquely dedicated to building attachment, managing awful thoughts, bringing awareness to your partner's mental health, parenting babies in the NICU or with medical issues, and exploring culture, identity, and mental health. There is also a resource section with a wide array of support available to meet the needs of any parent. Adoptive and single parents, LGBTQ+ and heterosexual parents, as well as clinicians and birth workers will find this book to be an invaluable resource.

Children are wonderful. That's why we have them. But what about the negative feelings that are the flip side of motherhood? When you are bruised, battered or worse after the birth, and feel that life has been reduced to a cycle of feeding and changing; of lonely days and endless nights? As many as 3 in 10 new mothers are affected by depression, so you are not alone - this book is written to help cope you with these feelings, and to enable you to make a happy and successful adjustment to motherhood. It will give you advice on how to come to terms with a traumatic birth and help you understand what postnatal depression is - and isn't. You can learn to love your baby, even if you're struggling to bond, and you can also come to terms with the new dynamics within your family and your relationship with your partner as you adjust to a different world, with a changed body and new priorities. You can't change society and its often-unrealistic expectations of motherhood, but with the help offered in this book you can come to feel more confident in your new role, and in your love for your baby.

This evidence-based clinical guideline commissioned by NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) presents guidance on the management of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in primary and secondary care.