Tagged With "Addicts Among US"
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Racism, Not Race, Causes Health Disparities for Black Mothers (nonprofitquarterly.org)
The health disparities that exist for Black mothers in America are well documented. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth than their White counterparts. Yet, aside from listing “being Black” as a risk factor for maternal death, little has been done to address this alarming statistic. The inaugural Black Maternal Health Week , held from April 11–17, 2018, sought to change this through offering a forum for continued conversation. Importantly, they shed light on...
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Reconnecting to your Body after Peritraumatic Dissociation
In this article, we will talk about one of the most common symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder – dissociation. We will explore different methods and tools that help us to reconnect with our body in the long term. Since one of those tools is therapy, we will also talk about the limits of talk therapy, and address how working with our body directly can teach us new and healthier responses when we are overwhelmed. Definition and Explanation of Dissociation For every trauma...
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[Repost] Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...
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Senate Resolution re Diaper Banks and National Diaper Network
May 14, 2019: Resolution Recognizes The Importance Of Diaper Banks And Providing Diapers To Families In Need Senate Resolution re Diapers RESOLUTION Expressing the gratitude of the Senate for the people who operate or support diaper banks and diaper distribution programs in their local communities. Whereas the lack of a sufficient clean diaper supply can adversely affect the physical, mental, and economic wellbeing of infants, toddlers, and their families; Whereas diapers are a material...
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Senator Harris to Reintroduce Maternal CARE Act [CWA E Newsletter]
Sen. Kamala Harris has announced a proposal to address the worsening maternal mortality crisis in the U.S., and deep racial disparities in care across the country. Harris' proposal highlights the fact that African American women are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to their white counterparts - and not just among poor women, according to the CDC . Harris proposes to create a new $25 million program aimed at fighting racial bias in maternal care by...
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So how do you start to think and talk about ACEs and Maternal Mental Health?
Give them an info graphic to show the connection between toxic stress and health outcomes for moms and babies? Check out the attached 3 handouts! Have some talking points ready to get the conversation started with prenatal care staff? ...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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Standing Strong – The knowledge, skills and peer support parents need to lead (www.risemagazine.org)
Cissy's note: I admire the work of this parent-led and parent-focused organization. I read everything they post. For those not familiar with what they do, this is a recent interview with three staffers and gives a really good look at what and how they work to support families and make systems change. Here's an excerpt. The full piece is here. To read more of this piece recently published in Rise Magazine, go here.
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Study defines differences among brain neurons that coincide with psychiatric conditions [medicalxpress.com]
It's no surprise to scientists that variety is the very essence of biology, not just the seasoning, but most previous studies of key brain cells have found little variability in a common cell process that involves how genetic information is read and acted on. The process, called epigenetics, involves chemical or structural "tweaks" to gene activity that don't affect the underlying genetic code itself, but do affect when and how a gene becomes available to be read for its protein-encoding...
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Suffering in Silence Mood Disorders Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women of Color
Pregnancy and childbirth can bring joy and fulfillment to a woman's life. They can also bring anxiety, depression, and stress. If left untreated, postpartum depression and other mood disorders can grow severe and even fatal for both the mother and her child. The American Psychological Association estimates that 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression, yet the true statistic is unknown, as most women do not recognize the symptoms associated with the condition. 1 According to the World...
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Symptoms of Depression During and After Pregnancy
In order to have the best chance of improving outcomes for the mother and infant, routine screening and treatment for depression should begin early in pregnancy, a time when women have increased contact with the health care system.
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The Decision that Changed My Life
Four years ago, I decided to start a conversation about the long term impact of childhood abuse. More specifically, about what happens when those abused children grow up and have children of their own. When I had become a parent, I went looking for books on this topic, and I didn’t find anything. But I knew I couldn’t be the only one who was dealing with this. And once I found one other person who was willing to write about this, I said, let’s collect these stories. The stories of these...
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The Decline of Empathy: A Hopeful Solution (www.claudiamgoldmd.blogspot.com)
Here is an excerpt from a recent blog post by Dr. Claudia M. Gold. Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton was among the first to recognize the tremendous capacity of the newborn for complex connection and communication. Developmental psychologist Ed Tronick, drawing on this observation, designed the famous Still-Face Experiment to show the devastation, for both parent and baby, when they struggle to connect. Extensive research at the interface of developmental psychology, neuroscience, and...
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The Developing Brain & Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Thanks to an explosion in scientific research now possible with imaging technologies, such as fMRI and SPECT, experts can actually see how the brain develops. This helps explain why exposure to adverse childhood experiences can so deeply influence and change a child's brain and thus their physical and emotional health and quality of life across their lifetime. The above time-lapse study was conducted over 10 years. The darker colors represent brain maturity (brain development). I have added...
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The Girl on the Side (www.beatingtrauma.com)
Elisabeth Corey writes so honestly on her Beating Trauma blog . I'm a huge fan of her writing and advocacy work. This piece, in particular, is amazing. She writes about adult relationships and how they have been impacted deeply and consistently by ACEs in childhood. We know what we have lived. Unlearning and learning new and different things takes time and work. And it helps, that parents like Elisabeth share as they learn. We all benefit from that sharing. Many of us are learning how to...
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The Hello It’s Me Project comes to Pittsfield: Dr. Claudia Gold at the helm of initiative to create healthy bonds between parents and infants (www./theberkshireedge.com)
Cissy's note: I am a huge fan of the way @Claudia Gold works with those of us Parenting with ACEs . The first time I read her writing I relaxed. She was speaking with and for parents not about or at us. Unfortunately, her approach is rare. Fortunately, she just launched a new project she's been dreaming of for years. I love the way she supports all families and how she centers the role of all parents in the lives of all children - especially those - not all except those...
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The Link Between Childhood Trauma and Sexual Abuse in Adulthood
Please check out our latest Healing Our Ghosts' podcast with ECHO's executive director and #metoo Harvey Weinstein's silence breaker Louise Godbold. Healing Our Ghosts shines light into the suffering we keep hidden. We are not alone in our struggles and when we share our pain, we lift the shame secrecy that keeps us alone and disconnected from each other and prevents us from healing. With humor and compassion, Ana Joanes interviews a wide variety of guests about their messy lives, how they...
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The Maternal Mortality Rate In The US Is High. Colorado Is Spending To Try To Stop It [Colorado Public Radio]
By Natalia V. Navarro, CPR, June 18, 2019 Nicole Pember has two healthy daughters but during both pregnancies, she could have died. Not only did she have preeclampsia twice, but she also had HELLP syndrome and severe postpartum depression “We just kind of have this expectation also that women just suffer for the good of everyone and it makes it really easy to miss very serious problems,” Pember said. “Things like Preeclampsia, the symptoms are very similar to just kind of like being pregnant...
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The prevalence and clinical correlates of adverse childhood experiences in a cross-sectional study of primary care patients with cardiometabolic disease or risk factors (BMC)
From the article: To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the incidence and clinical correlates of ACEs in primary care patients who already have cardiometabolic disease or are at elevated risk based on conventional risk factors. Open Access LINK to article Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with risk of poor adult health, including cardiometabolic diseases. Little is known about the correlates of ACEs for adults who have already developed...
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The Relentless School Nurse: The Text Message No Parent Wants to Get - An Active Shooter is at School
Many blog readers know that my niece Carly is a survivor of the Parkland shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. You may know that my father also survived a mass murder, and like Carly, hid in a closet until the police arrived. Almost 70 years separated the two tragedies. Our guest blogger this week is my sister Merri, Carly's mom. Merri shares her first-hand account of what happened the afternoon of February 14, 2018, when Carly sent this text, “Mom don’t freak out but we are on...
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The Rise of the Trauma-Informed Mothers
The next generation is less likely to wear predisposed shackles of trauma because as trauma-informed parents we are re-wiring the traumatically stressed DNA that was passed down to us.
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The Trauma-Sensitive Parenting Summit & Commentary
"Having a history of trauma or loss does not by itself predispose you to have a child with disorganization. It is the lack of resolution that is the essential risk factor. It is never too late to move toward making sense of your experiences and healing your past. Not only you but also your child will benefit." That's a quote from the book Parenting from the Inside Out: How A Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive, which was published fifteen freaking years ago. It's...
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'They Took My Kid': Rural Docs Help Moms Fight Addiction [medpagetoday.com]
By Ashley Lyles, MedPage Today, November 19, 2019 Patient: I'd gotten pregnant again and I was using through my whole pregnancy, and I didn't receive prenatal care. He was born and he's fine and everything. The [Department of Social Services] let me bring him home. Then a week after I had him, I relapsed really, really bad. Then, I got really messed up and they took my kid. Reporter: The opioid epidemic has taken a toll in rural areas, especially on pregnant women. Doctors and healthcare...
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Through a Trauma Lens: The Need for Doulas
Trigger warning: trauma, doctors, hospital, birth, sex It is very important to me to approach all of the work that I do from a trauma-informed perspective. Whether it is asking for consent before touching a student in yoga class, offering self-regulation skills to those I work with, or preparing clients for potential triggers*, I do my best to incorporate my on-going learning in the field of trauma into my professional practices. Recently, I began taking trauma classes for professionals...
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TIC: News and Notes for November 2019
ACEs, Adversity's Impact Podcast: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Vital Signs: Estimated proportion of adult health problems attributable to adverse childhood experiences and implications for prevention - 25 states, 2015-2017 Animal study shows how stress and mother's abuse affects infant brain LGBTQ, traumatized homeless youth more vulnerable to being trafficked: Report How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening?Early adopters tell all When family relationships become toxic: The trauma of...
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TIC: News and Notes for the Week of October 21, 2019 [dhs.wisconsin.gov]
ACEs, Adversity's Impact There is only one boat: The myth of normalcy by Dr. Gabor Mate Understanding historical trauma to strengthen community Childhood trauma linked to early, premarital childbirth and poor health for women Early life racial discrimination linked to depression, accelerated aging When mothers are killed by their partners, children often become 'forgotten' victims. It's time they were given a voice Children's language skills may be harmed by social hardship Does racism...
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To Build a "Trauma-Informed Community" Start With Babies (www.psychologytoday.com) & Dr. Claudia Gold
Cissy's note: This article was written by the same @Claudia Gold who was the featured guest in one of our Parenting with ACEs chats . Here are excerpts from her article published in Psychology Today.
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Trauma-Informed Care and a Therapist Saved my Life
Between 55 and 99 percent of women who attend addiction treatment and between 85 and 95 percent of women with a history of mental illness have a history of trauma. Among this trauma , the vast majority happened during childhood. Whether the trauma involves neglect, sexual assault, or dysfunction within the family, the need for trauma-informed care in both addiction treatment and in the mental health field is of great importance. When I found myself at a detox facility 1,300 miles away from...
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Trauma Mama: Little Girl Riding Shotgun in My Psyche
“I love you,” I say to my daughter. “Of course you do,” she says, I’m awesome.” She was twelve. The mother in me smiled. The girl I was shook her head inside and wondered h ow would it have been to feel both loved and lovable while a child? I do not know. I will never know. It does not matter how wonderful my present. It does not matter who I will become. I can’t change the past. The past is a country I never want my daughter to travel near or in. I am an exile, from my past, my child self.
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Untreated perinatal paternal depression: Effects on offspring (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Note: So many of us mistakingly believe hormone-related changes in pregnant women are the only cause of depression for new parents. Not so, as many fathers and adoptive parents know. This abstract suggests the following: Hence, facilitating access to vigorous and evidence based treatments is a public health opportunity for improving the quality of life of depressed parents and their children. Evidences emerging from this review actually suggest that the traditional gender-focused approach to...
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Webinar: Key findings from the Listening to Mothers in California Survey
Webinar: Key findings from the Listening to Mothers in California Survey. For more information and to register, please see below. Webinar is Thursday, September 20 , from 12-1:00 PM In 2017, a team led by the National Partnership for Women & Families surveyed more than 2,500 women in California about their views and experiences with childbirth. The results, which will be released September 12, reveal what is and isn't working with maternity care in the Golden State. Join us Thursday,...
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WEBINAR - NPPC's Pilot Site Case Studies: Lessons Learned from ACEs Screening Implementation
The Center for Youth Wellness' National Pediatric Practice Community on ACES (NPPC) is a co-designed community committed to collaborative learning. To promote this learning, we have been working with six pilot sites over the last year, representing practices of various sizes and service delivery settings, to implement ACEs screening and intervention. On Monday, December 2nd at 1pm PT , we will be holding a webinar to discuss the findings of these pilot site case studies. Please register...
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What Happens When Hollywood is Not Trauma Informed? MMH Advocates are Calling for Warning and a Boycott of Charlize Theron's New Movie "Tully" [huffingtonpost.ca]
"'... It's very disappointing the illness would be so grossly misdiagnosed in a major motion picture when we know that only 15 percent of women who experience a postpartum mood disorder get treatment because of the stigma and shame associated with it,' Zoblin told HuffPost Canada. 'I think mothers should be made aware going into the movie that it might be triggering.'" Warning: this post and the linked article contain spoilers for the new movie "Tully". The previews for this movie would lead...
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How Does Trauma Affect a Person’s Interaction with Their Child? (www.nicabm.com) & Commentary
Has anyone seen this video posted on the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICAMB) blog? "According to Dr. Ruth Lanius, a parent's experience of trauma can impact their ability to form a close, intimate relationship with their child." Ruth Buczynski, PhD Those of us Parenting with ACEs sure know that's the truth. Developmental trauma impacts our ability to form close and intimate relationships with ourselves, other adults and our children. The video was...
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How It Feels & How We Heal: Parenting with ACEs Chat Quotes (You Tube, Database, PDFs, Links)
Parenting with ACEs is sharing inspiration, information, and expertise from our chat series in 3 formats. Parenting with ACEs: How It Feels & How We Heal Quote Collection (pdf version below as well) Quotes Database (pdf version below as well) Links to Chat Transcripts and before and after-the-chat blog posts. Thanks to everyone who showed up, who shared, and who is doing the important work that is our mission (prevent ACEs, heal trauma, build resilience). We know that work happens...
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How social factors drive up suicide rates among pregnant women [TheConversation.com]
Pregnant women in South Africa who live in poor communities are more likely to consider or attempt suicide than the general population. That’s a key finding from a recent study we undertook at Hanover Park. The research found 12% of pregnant women living in low-resource communities had thought of killing themselves during the previous month. In the same period, an additional 6% of pregnant women reported they had started to enact a suicide plan or attempted to end their lives. Rates of...
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How to get more low-income moms screened for depression? CMS says, ‘Bill me!’ [CenterForHealthJournalism.com]
In recent years there’s been a surge in awareness of how common and debilitating maternal depression can be. As the research accumulates and media coverage keeps apace, the idea that depression and related disorders can wreak serious havoc on a mother and affect her baby’s development has given fresh urgency to efforts to get moms more help. Among policymakers, growing recognition of the problem has translated into new programs, with a number of states encouraging screenings and treatment.
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Immune Biomarkers of Early-Life Adversity and Exposure to Stress and Violence - Searching Outside the Streetlight [jamanetwork.com]
By Nicole R. Bush and Kirstin Aschbacher, JAMA Pediatrics, November 4, 2019 Evidence of an association between early-life adversity and heightened risk of chronic disease in adulthood has been found, but the optimal biomarkers for identifying vulnerable or resilient individuals remain unclear. Global trends, including widening socioeconomic disparities, the refugee crises, and climate change, increasingly sculpt trauma exposure and call for scalable early-risk identification and treatment...
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Improve Birth and Perinatal Outcomes with a Trauma Sensitive Approach
The Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health is excited to bring together 10 talented practitioners to explore the Trauma Informed Practices that help improve birth outcomes and support human development right from the very start. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (1998) launched the importance of trauma and trauma informed care in our health and educational systems. We suddenly had a measure of how early experiences in childhood could correlate with adult disease.
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Introducing myself, Morgan Vien & NEW Practicing Resilience Community
Hello! I’m a Community Manager for the Practicing Resilience for Self-Care & Healing community. This is an introduction to me and this new community. I graduated with a B.S. in Public Health from Santa Clara University June 2017. And I’m interested in preventing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, at the community and population level by addressing biological, psychological, and social factors that affect chronic disease outcomes. As the...
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Introducing NEW Becoming Trauma-Informed & Beyond Community
Earlier this year @Dawn Daum wrote to us when she was ready to share ACEs science with people in the organization she works in to make a case for moving towards more trauma-informed care for the benefit of the staff and those they serve. She was frustrated because almost all the training and resources she found were geared towards schools, clinical staff or to organizations working with children and families rather than ACE-impacted adults in the workplace and who are...
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Learning To Care For My Newborn Was A Humbling Experience [npr.org]
Wen is an emergency physician and the health commissioner of Baltimore City. Two months ago, my husband and I welcomed our baby son, Eli, into the world. Hearing his first cry and getting to hold him were the happiest moments of our lives. When he was placed on my chest and I could see and touch him, I felt like I knew him already. The doctors told us he was healthy and well. I couldn't wait to start our lives together as a family. The night we arrived home, Eli wouldn't stop crying. Crying...
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Maternal Depression and Intimate Partner Violence: Impacts on Children [aappublications.org]
Among the many adverse childhood experiences, one must consider are the effects of maternal depression and of mothers being the victim of physical or sexual violence. What is the toll of these on children? Neamah et al. ( 10.1542/peds.2017-3457 ) decided to evaluate this by looking at the strength of such an association on the cognitive development as well as physical growth of over a thousand toddlers between 18 to 36 months living in Tanzania. These children underwent developmental testing...
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Maternal Mental Health Awareness
Please see the link below for the MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH infographic for social media ACEs Intern/Volunteer, Elizabeth Najmabadi MPH, and myself developed to bring awareness to Perinatal Mental Health. Thank you to all who gave us support and feedback as well as the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership community partners for allowing me to post organizational logos on the flyer to show where maternal mental health services are available for mothers in Sonoma County. Please share with your...
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May is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month!
How are you helping to raise awareness? Are you participating in a social media campaign? Attending an event? If you're a clinician, are you doing anything special within your practice? Please share with us what you are doing in the comments section
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Medicaid can vastly improve maternal health, study [Modern Healthcare]
Expanded access to Medicaid was associated with 1.6 f ewer maternal deaths per 100,000 women compared with states that didn't expand the program, according to a new study. The i nfant death rate also fell more dramatically in Medicaid expansion states—by more than 50% from 2010 to 2016. Those findings were in a report released Wednesday by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Researchers found that expansion states saw greater drops in the uninsured rate among women...
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More Clinicians Need to Address Postpartum Depression and other Postpartum or Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
“It’s okay to tell me that you’re not okay.” Postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum or perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are the most common medical concerns for women after childbirth. Yet few medical and mental health professionals really know how prevalent and serious PPD and PMADs are. There is a great need for better screening to identify women struggling with postpartum disorders. Likewise, more therapists and mental health providers need to know about treatment...
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My son was hospitalized and now he has PTSD
“Grant, do you remember when you were in the hospital?” “Yes… they came to take the blood and I turned into a werewolf.” Original Post It happened quickly. A year ago my three year old had a collarbone fracture, it became infected and within 24 hours the situation was emergent. A week long hospital stay, one month with a PICC line and two months on oral antibiotics. Finally, the labs finally came back normal. The X-Ray was clean. Gillette Children’s Hospital closed our case. But the healing...
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New Postpartum Depression Drug Could Be Hard To Access For Moms Most In Need [NPR]
One in nine women in the United States suffer from depression after childbirth. For some women, postpartum depression is so bad that they struggle to care for their children and may even consider or attempt suicide. This week, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug that can help, the first drug approved specifically for postpartum depression. While researchers and clinicians are excited about the drug's potential, some foresee obstacles to making it available to women who need...
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No ACEs, low resilience worse than high ACE and resilience scores, study finds
What does measuring resilience tell us about pregnant women who have experienced ACEs? For one thing, it affirms that understanding how a mom-to-be weathers difficult experiences gives greater meaning to her ACE score and what it might mean for her children. That was one of the takeaways from a recent study in the Journal of Women’s Health entitled “ Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental and Behavioral Health Conditions During Pregnancy: The Role of Resilience ,” says Dr. Carey Watson,...