In Today's Issue:
đ¨ When Postpartum Doctors Get Postpartum Depression
đ Internet Therapy for Postpartum Anxiety & DepressionâDoes It Actually Work?
đ¤ Machines Predicting Postpartum Depression? Hereâs Why Thatâs a Problem
đ Upcoming Events (You Don't Want to Miss!)
đ¨ When Postpartum Doctors Get Postpartum Depression⌠The Truth Is Shocking
Youâre the expert. The one others turn to for answers. Youâve trained for years, studied every symptom, mastered the protocols. Youâre the one writing prescriptions, reassuring mothers, telling them itâs okay to ask for help.
But what happens when itâs you?
What happens when you canât sleep? When the anxiety creeps in, when the exhaustion turns into something heavier, when you start wondering if youâre just ânot cut outâ for this? When the very diagnosis youâve treated in others starts staring back at you in the mirror?
Do you tell someone? Do you risk the judgment? The whispers? The fear that maybe youâll be seen as less capable, less competentâlike you donât have it together?
This is the silent crisis no one is talking about.
Physician mothers have TWICE the risk of postpartum depression compared to the general population. And yet, for so many in the medical field, struggling with mental health feels like a personal failureâsomething to be hidden, managed in silence, pushed through with sheer willpower.
Dr. Jessica Vernon, an OBGYN and perinatal mental health advocate, lived this firsthand.
For two years, she didnât recognize her own postpartum OCD, anxiety, and depression. She prescribed herself antidepressants before she ever admitted out loud that she needed help. And she isnât alone. The stigma in medicine is realâand itâs keeping the very people trained to help others from getting the help they need themselves.
What happens when doctors, midwives, and therapists start questioning their own expertise? When they begin doubting their own ability to heal? When the system they work in fails them the same way it fails so many of their patients?
We have to talk about this. Because if the professionals caring for postpartum mothers are suffering in silence, what does that say about the system as a whole?
This conversation is raw, honest, and desperately needed.
đ§ Click to listen now on the major gaps in medical training for mental health!
đ Internet Therapy for Postpartum Anxiety & DepressionâDoes It Actually Work?
Is online therapy just a placebo? This new study suggests it might be (really look at the numbers and not just what the study says)âbut hereâs why that still matters.
đ Hint: Even if itâs just a placebo, we should be using EVERY tool we have to support postpartum mothers.
Read the study here and see what the research really says.
đ¤ Machines Predicting Postpartum Depression? Hereâs Why Thatâs a Problem
A new study claims machine learning can predict postpartum depression.
đš The models rely on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scaleâwhich we already know is deeply flawed. (Hereâs why that matters.)
đš The best predictions came AFTER birthâwhen we should already be offering support, not just labeling moms as "high risk."
Should we let machines dictate mental health care? Read this, then hit replyâI want to hear your take.
đ Upcoming Events!
One of my favorite people, Toni Harman, gave me some free tickets to the upcoming Birth Summit 2025! Grab your seat here for expert presentations from ME đ and others on the latest research on neuroscience, the infant microbiome, breastmilk science, infant brain development, and more! Grab your seat here.
Iâm excited to share an amazing opportunity thatâs close to my heartâ my friend and partner, Dr. Greer Kirshenbaum, author of the bestselling book the Nurture Revolution has just opened her Nurture Neuroscience Practitioner Training. Take a look here.
Postpartum care is evolving, and providers like you are leading the charge. Whether itâs rethinking postpartum depression, questioning machine-driven mental health models, or pushing for real solutions over band-aid fixes, weâre in this together.
If this issue sparked something for you, take what resonates and bring it into your workâbecause this shift starts with us.
Talk soon,
Maranda Bower
CEO & Founder of Postpartum UniversityÂŽ
www.PostpartumU.com
