Beyond Baby Blues: The Many Faces of Perinatal Mental Health

This episode centers on perinatal mental health with Kristen Neville, LPC-S, a specialist who explains why postpartum experiences go far beyond depression. Kristen unpacks anxiety, OCD, rage, psychosis, intrusive thoughts, and postpartum experiences after miscarriage and birth. She highlights how hormonal shifts, sleep loss, birth trauma, and societal expectations about bodies exacerbate distress. Listeners hear clinical insights about identification, validation, and therapeutic approaches—narrative, reality-testing, and practical safety planning. Kristen also emphasizes clinician countertransference and the importance of trauma-informed, nonjudgmental care for birthing parents who feel unseen or dismissed by medical providers.