Tag Archives: PTSD

Physical and Mental Health in the Postnatal Period

Emma Brockwell is a women’s health physiotherapist in Surrey, with a particular passion for helping women to recover after birth. Here she writes about the links between physical and mental health in the postnatal period.

Pregnancy and childbirth are life-changing events that affect women both physically and mentally. Whilst their impacts affect women at different levels and in many different ways, it is rare to have a baby and not be affected in some capacity. As a women’s health physiotherapist I see that physical and mental health issues often go hand in hand, but as a system we are very poor at seeing and treating these conditions and giving women the holistic care that they need.

Continue reading Physical and Mental Health in the Postnatal Period

Beyond Peer Support: Twitter and Perinatal Mental Health

By Laura Wood, mum with lived experience who campaigns for better perinatal mental health, @cooksferryqueen

Laura has created a Twitter tutorial to help professionals working in the sector to make the most of Twitter for perinatal mental health. Here, she blogs about her story and how online peer support has helped her and others.

A month or so after my son’s traumatic birth in February 2014, I unravelled quite suddenly, and I had no idea what was happening to me. I was experiencing flashbacks, violent intrusive thoughts, and suicidal impulses. I was completely all over the place, and I was terrified. I was aware of postnatal depression, but I also knew that I wasn’t depressed. Continue reading Beyond Peer Support: Twitter and Perinatal Mental Health

Emma’s story: Beyond Birth Trauma

image1By Emma Jane Sasaru

Emma Jane is a mother to two daughters and passionate about improving maternity and perinatal mental health services for women and their families. The Mums and Babies in Mind team invited Emma to tell her story about birth trauma, perinatal PTSD and how she is making a difference.

We sometimes go through things in life that completely change us.

For me this is certainly true. When I gave birth to my first daughter I suffered birth trauma and then went on to develop perinatal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Continue reading…