Mind On Mental Health · Penn Medicine - Princeton House Behavioral Health

What Treatments Work for Moms with Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders?

·21 min·1 clip

Lisa Tremaine lists anxiety, bipolar family history, pregnancy loss, infertility, abuse, and isolation as PMAD risk factors.

1. Mind On Mental Health examines effective treatments and risk factors for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. 2. Andy Dean, a licensed clinical social worker, interviews Lisa Tremaine, founder and director of the Center for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Eatontown, New Jersey. 3. The episode asks which therapies, community supports, and preparation steps can help mothers facing PMADs. 4. Tremaine identifies CBT, DBT, and EMDR as treatments used with this population. 5. Tremaine describes EMDR as an approach for perceived or real birth trauma, including an unwanted C-section. 6. She explains CBT through questions about whether a mother is a loser, a failure, prepared, or experiencing a transition. 7. Tremaine characterizes DBT as skills-based work involving steps, homework, and mastering one skill before the next. 8. She places peer support, validation, community, and a village at the center of her program. 9. Tremaine says her program holds groups twice a week because new mothers regularly need shared experience. 10. She argues that in-person programs reveal a mother’s interaction with her baby in ways Zoom cannot. 11. Tremaine says mothers often feel better when another woman looks normal while describing the same frightening thoughts. 12. She estimates that one out of three women have PMADs and uses that ratio to explain why local groups can help. 13. Tremaine recommends searching locally for church or community gatherings when specialized services are unavailable. 14. She says virtual treatment helped people during COVID but remains less effective than in-person care for her purposes. 15. She supports exposure therapy for fears such as leaving home or driving with a baby. 16. Tremaine directs listeners to Postpartum Support International and postpartum.net for peer and virtual groups, including military, LGBT, and women-of-color groups. 17. For pregnancy, she names anxiety, bipolar disorder in a first-degree relative, pregnancy loss, infertility, adverse experiences, abuse, isolation, and language barriers as risk factors. 18. For the first 90 days after birth, she recommends planning sleep and duties with an equal partner and saying yes to offered help. 19. The interview uses conversational examples, personal experience, treatment explanations, and practical advice. 20. It suits listeners seeking PMAD treatment, peer support, or postpartum planning.

As heard by us

Direct, practical talk on perinatal mental health and the support new parents actually need.

This episode looks at perinatal mood and anxiety disorders in a plain, direct way, and that helps. It covers therapy options and the risk factors pregnant moms should keep in mind without turning clinical material into a lecture.

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If you want straight talk on perinatal mental health, this one gets practical fast.

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