Having a baby is never easy, especially for military families. What if you were pregnant with your third baby, and your spouse was going to be deployed immediately after you delivered? This is just one of the challenges that military families face. The new book, Perinatal Mental Health and the Military Family, delivers an in-depth exploration of the stresses that military families face during childbirth and the perinatal period, and offers sound advice for supporting the military mom.
Edited by Melinda A Thiam, M.D., a military staff psychiatrist, and with an impressive list of contributing health professional authors, this invaluable text delves in the various mood and anxiety disorders that active-duty military moms and spouses face. “Military lifestyle is dynamic and requires families to be adaptable, resilient and patient in an environment characterized by uncertainty.”
“Military women are at an elevated risk of depression in pregnancy and postpartum. Factors that increase the risk for depression include social isolation, coping with undesired pregnancy, unresolved psychological trauma from childhood, relationship challenges with a marital partner (or father of the infant), as well as struggling with work demands.”
This subject is very personal to me. I had a postpartum psychosis after delivering a premature baby when my husband was overseas serving our country. The stress of not having my husband near during this trying time, plus lack of sleep, was a terrible combination. I spent two weeks on a mental ward and almost three years of guilt and anguish before making a complete recovery. No mom should have this experience.
HELP IS AVAILABLE…
Postpartum Support International has support coordinators support coordinators for all branches of the military. You can purchase the book through Amazon or directly through the publisher, Routledge.
