Therapy for pregnancy supports women and their partners while going through a transformative time. Whether first time or long-standing parents, every pregnancy is different and brings up its own emotions and mental health experiences.
Whether you have specific anxieties regarding birth, nervous about the identity shift of becoming a mother or simply seeking a more empowered and confident birth, therapy for pregnant women provides the knowledge, tools and techniques to approach birth – and motherhood – with more resilience and a greater sense of calm.
Lara Dolden, therapist at Lara Listens Therapy, shares the many ways that therapy for pregnant women can help support women during pregnancy and beyond.
The Importance of Mental Health During Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a time to take care of your health. From supplements to pregnancy yoga, there is no shortage of ways to look after your physical health during pregnancy and taking care of your mental health is just as important!
It’s not just a case of “keep calm and carry on”. Better mental health during pregnancy has actually been linked to better birth outcomes including a smoother labour and fewer complications. Poor mental health, on the other hand, has been linked to higher-risk pregnancies.
Just as you would keep your physical health in check, taking time for your mental health and reducing stress as much as possible is so important during pregnancy. High stress levels have been linked to 20% higher risk of adverse birth outcomes. That’s why therapy for pregnant women isn’t the time to dig into your past or unravel deep-rooted traumas. Instead, working with a specialist therapist for pregnancy will help to alleviate fears, learn techniques for stress reduction and stack the odds in your favour for a positive birth experience.feelings of guilt. Some mums struggle to attach to their pregnancy for fear of not being able to cope if anything goes wrong. Again, this is a very understandable protective response which can be overcome as you learn to reconnect with your body and why you want this baby.
Managing Uncertainty
Pregnancy and birth are inherently uncertain times. This can be hard to manage after a difficult or long experience of IVF. There are risks with all pregnancies and births. Nothing is guaranteed. Part of building emotional stability and confidence is learning to manage this uncertainty and focus on what you can control or manage.
Attachment and Bonding:
Some mums struggle to attach to their pregnancy for fear of not being able to cope if anything goes wrong. This disconnect can lead to other emotions (see above) and also can interfere with building an emotional connection with the baby.
Sense of identity:
Not being able to easily conceive can challenge someone’s sense of identity. This can have a knock-on effect to confidence. Some mums carry a sense of their body ‘failing’ somehow. As part of building confidence for birth, reconnecting to a strong sense of self is important.
How Therapy for Pregnant Women Can Help with Emotional Challenges
Between hormonal shifts, anxiety around birth and the identity shift of becoming a parent (perhaps for the first time), pregnancy can bring up a lot of emotional challenges. Every pregnancy is different and each can bring a mix of excitement, fear, uncertainty – sometimes all at the same time!
Therapy for pregnant women offers a safe and supportive environment to explore these emotions and develop strategies to stay calm and regulated during pregnancy and beyond.
Whether you’re struggling with residual emotions from a past birthing experience or simply a fear of the unknown for your first pregnancy, therapy can help you feel more emotionally prepared for the journey ahead.
Understanding The Mind Body Connection In Therapy
What you think affects how your body responds and this is no truer than during pregnancy and birth. One of the biggest benefits of therapy for pregnant women is learning to take charge of your thoughts. Working with a specialist birth therapist equips soon-to-be mothers with better self-talk and tools for breathwork and self-hypnosis so that they can work with their body rather than against it during birth.
From reframing beliefs around birth, gaining strategies for confidence and learning to regulate their own nervous system, pregnant women come away from this therapy with all the tools they need to build a confident birth mindset.
And the best part? These tools go beyond pregnancy. Once they master the mind-body connection and influencing thoughts, the same tools can be used for anything that might come up for them in the future.
Tools For Motherhood And Beyond
When women go to therapy for pregnancy, what they learn is not just about birth. In dealing with anxiety and a lack of control – and learning personalised tools and techniques to overcome these – this therapy is building more resilient mothers.
The birth is just the first step of a long and fulfilling journey of motherhood, with many twists and turns of its own! When pregnant women take the time to check in with their mental health and learn new resources, they are also filling up their toolbox for the future – be it in motherhood, their careers or any other key moments.
Parenthood requires a strong team which is why therapy for pregnant women also focuses on strengthening the bond between the woman and her birth partner. Whether it’s learning to communicate more effectively, championing each other’s needs or simply developing patience, the tools learned before labour will continue to be valuable long into parenthood.
Lara Listens Therapy offers therapy for pregnant women alongside individual and couples therapy covering a range of issues. Her services are available online to support clients all over the world and she offers a free introductory call to see if she’d be a good fit.
https://laralistenstherapy.com