Postnatal depression can be a crippling and overwhelming condition that can affect not only you but the way that you bond with your new baby.
Whilst doctors may prescribe medication such as anti-depressants, counselling and psychotherapy can be far more powerful in the road towards recovery. By talking freely about your feelings and thoughts – no matter how terrible you may feel them to be – you will begin to understand why you are feeling the way that you do and by getting to know yourself more comprehensively, new skills will be provided which will allow you to cope.
If your feelings of depression are being bottled up then talking alone is great therapy. Your counsellor will encourage you to voice any fears or concerns that you may have, even if they involve your baby or your partner. Your family may not understand your emotional upset but your therapist will. They will focus entirely on you so that you can feel comfortable about releasing pent up feelings of sadness, inability to cope and worries about yourself and your baby.
Very often Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) will be used to enable you to combat your postnatal depression. Your therapist will discuss this with you in detail before commencing the treatment. By using CBT, they will investigate your current path of negative thinking and replace the damaging thought with positive ones. During PND it is not uncommon for your thoughts to become very irrational and by putting them back into context your anxiety and depression should begin to lift.
Thoughts of self-harm or of harming your baby may all fit into your head when you are at home alone with your baby with no-one to guide you. You may feel that you are absolutely unable to cope and that your new life with baby is out of your control. Your counsellor will show you how to limit your feelings of anxiety in the right way.
If you would like us to put you in touch with a counsellor that can help you to deal with your postnatal depression, fill in the form below. We will identify a practitioner that is suitable for you and who will be able to assist.
