The Perinatal Patient: A Compassionate Approach to Treating Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, and Related Disorders

ARE YOU LISTENING TO WHAT SHE’S NOT SAYING?

Caught between worrying about how she feels and desperately working to portray the image of a good mother, a perfect mother, a mother who knows what’s she’s doing, the postpartum woman in distress is more likely to choose silence or minimization over disclosure.

She will allow her suffering—her dark mood, scary intrusive thoughts, intense anxiety, excessive monitoring of the baby, feelings of inadequacy, grief over lost independence, thoughts of harming herself or the baby, and even delusions and hallucinations—to fly under the radar in exchange for a calm and collected exterior. Even if she’s worried about how she feels. Even if she and her baby are in danger.

The Perinatal Patient seeks to change that. Co-written by world-renowned maternal mental health expert Karen Kleiman and her highly accomplished mentee at The Postpartum Stress Center, Hilary Waller, this book offers revolutionary, compassionate guidance into the nuanced assessment and treatment of mental health symptoms postpartum—a critical period that does not offer the luxury of time.

Filled with case studies, worksheets, and handouts for both patients and providers, this invaluable resource will help you:

• Increase the likelihood that patients will disclose how they’re feeling
• Differentiate between “normal” perinatal experiences and more serious symptoms
• Normalize and respond effectively to mothers’ intrusive thoughts
• Decrease mothers’ feelings of isolation and help them build their social support systems
• Determine when to refer a mother to a higher level of care
• Navigate the complexities of infertility, pregnancy loss, and medical complications post birth
• And more!

Hilary Waller, LPC, is the Director of Education and Programming and a psychotherapist at The Postpartum Stress Center. After earning dual bachelor’s degrees at Columbia University and The Jewish Theological Seminary, Hilary worked with adolescents in both formal and informal educational settings. This experience piqued her interest in parent-child relationships and led her to pursue a master’s degree in counseling psychology with a specialty in marriage and family therapy. Hilary currently provides individual and group therapy services at The Postpartum Stress Center, as well as specialized trainings for both mental health care providers and non-mental health care providers seeking expertise in the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Karen Kleiman, MSW, LCSW, is a well-known international maternal mental-health expert with over thirty-five years of experience. As an advocate and author of several groundbreaking books on postpartum depression and anxiety, her work has been featured worldwide within the mental health community and beyond for decades. In 1988, Karen founded The Postpartum Stress Center, the premier treatment and training facility for prenatal and postpartum depression and anxiety. In 2022, she founded The Karen Kleiman Training Center, LLC, dedicated to the advancement of clinical expertise and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. All advanced trainings are heavily influenced by The Art of Holding Perinatal Women in Distress™ model of intervention she developed in 2017.