EMDR and Postpartum Wellness

You have been told stories of difficult pregnancies, labors, and deliveries. What you hadn’t heard, maybe even from your closest girlfriends, was how difficult the postpartum period could be. Between hormonal fluctuations, sleep deprivation, and, of course, the responsibility of caring for a newborn.  For some women, we’re also throwing in a traumatic birth experience. Postpartum periods can be very difficult to say the least. 

The Spectrum of Postpartum Mental Health

Baby Blues

Baby blues is considered the time after delivery that is marked by significant mood swings, tearfulness, and irritability. It is typically known to last two weeks following delivery. Baby blues are experienced by up to 80% of mothers.

Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression is more severe than baby blues and tends to last longer. Postpartum depression involves intense feelings of sadness, fatigue, and irritability. One in seven women experiences postpartum depression.

Postpartum Anxiety

Postpartum anxiety presents as panic attacks and fear for your baby’s safety, among other symptoms.

Postpartum PTSD

Postpartum PTSD can occur after a traumatic birth, leading to typical PTSD symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, and hypervigilance. Birth trauma is particularly difficult to manage, as good sleep health can really improve someone’s response to trauma. Typically, in postpartum periods, women are sleep-deprived.

Postpartum Psychosis

Though postpartum psychosis is extremely rare, it is important for women who are giving birth and their support systems to understand the symptoms. Symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, confusion, and extreme mood swings. Postpartum psychosis should be treated as an emergency and addressed as soon as possible. The quicker these symptoms are addressed, the less likely they will have a long-term effect on a mother’s mental health. Again, this is a rare condition, affecting around one in 1,000 births.

Having a good understanding of these postpartum conditions is the first step in treating these conditions if they arise for you or someone you love. If you recognize these symptoms in yourself and you are postpartum, one therapeutic approach that has been shown effective in treating postpartum illness is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

What is EMDR?

To give a quick rundown, EMDR is a therapy technique that was developed by Francine Shapiro in the 1980s. Though it was originally created to specifically address PTSD, EMDR has now expanded to help individuals integrate difficult and traumatic memories that result in symptoms associated with anxiety and depressive disorders. EMDR utilizes bilateral stimulation to help calm the amygdala, a part of our brain responsible for emotional responses, and integrates logic that we use in our frontal lobe across our entire brain. EMDR focuses on specific memories, but it is not necessary for clients to talk through all the parts of their specific memories in order to work to make them less distressing. It has distinct phases, and experienced clinicians often treat these phases as circular, meaning in a course of treatment they revisit phases that have previously been utilized with clients. To learn more EMDR basics, read through our blog that goes over what to expect during EMDR or our blog that describes the eight phases of EMDR.

Addressing Childbirth-Related Trauma

Childbirth is a physically demanding and often difficult experience for every woman who gives birth. That being said, some experiences are not just difficult—they are traumatic. I define trauma as the perceived or actual loss of safety for oneself or those that you love. One of the difficult pieces of birth trauma is that, often in traumatic births, both mothers and their babies are unsafe. This, for most women, causes a significant sense of loss of control.

As previously mentioned, symptoms of a traumatic birth are significantly exacerbated when mothers are sleep-deprived. In addition, they are experiencing hormonal changes that naturally create hypervigilance, which is a symptom of PTSD. Lastly, though unfortunately not always the case, even though births can be very traumatic, mothers and babies are often physically as well as can be expected after birth. This creates some cognitive dissonance for the mother. On one hand, she’s devastated by what she just experienced, and on the other hand, she wants to and is being told to be grateful for her healthy baby.

As you’re reading this, if you’re realizing that you didn’t feel safe during your birth experience—even if it’s years later—a marker that I notice in the clients that I work with is that if they’ve had a traumatic birth, they have a trauma response to their child’s birthday. Maybe you noticed yourself becoming more anxious or irritable as your child’s birthday nears, or maybe you even have a panic attack around your child’s birthday. The traumatic birth would not be the only possible reason for these symptoms, but it is reasonable to imagine it’s a culprit. To learn more about how EMDR can assist following a Traumatic delivery, visit our blog.

Benefits of EMDR for Postpartum Wellness

EMDR provides rapid relief of anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as post-traumatic symptoms. This is always a benefit of EMDR, but the benefit is even more highlighted as I’m working with newly postpartum mothers. They are often very motivated to reduce their symptoms and arrive at a place where they can enjoy their time with their baby. EMDR is also a non-invasive approach to treating postpartum mental health. While medication can certainly be warranted, often postpartum mothers are concerned about medication side effects, including side effects for their babies if they are breastfeeding. EMDR can be done without the possible side effects that come with medication.

Holistic Solutions for Postpartum Wellness

In addition to EMDR, there are two other holistic solutions that I’d like to present. Both solutions can be utilized in different capacities, both prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy, and postpartum.

Doula Support

The first is a good doula. A supportive and knowledgeable doula can be such a great resource for families leading up to birth, during birth, and postpartum. Flourish Family Doulas offers services that can span these periods for birthing moms. Doulas offer emotional support, education, resources, and advocacy for each family they work with. Studies show that having a doula as part of your support team significantly reduces your chances of experiencing a traumatic birth.  We've sat down in the offices of Flourish Family Doulas and spoken with one of their doulas and owner, Ashley.  You'll love their cozy office and empathetic nature.  Give them a visit at: https://flourishfamilydoulas.com/resources

Chiropractic Care

The second resource that I’d like to share is chiropractic care. To completely separate physical and emotional well-being is impossible. Where EMDR leaves off in treating the nervous system, chiropractic care picks up, and vice versa. Calming the nervous system is, from my perspective, the most beneficial piece of chiropractic care during pregnancy and postpartum. Chiropractic care can improve alignment during pregnancy and after birth, reducing pain and discomfort. It can also improve sleep, which can decrease PTSD symptoms if a traumatic birth has occurred.  We recommend Dr. Abigail at Bloom Well Family Wellness for your chiropractic needs.  Dr. Abigail is a wealth of knowledge on the human body in general, but particularly for women during and following pregnancy.  Give her website a visit at: https://bloomwellchiro.com/

What’s Next?

If you’re reading through this post before giving birth, I hope that you feel more well-informed and that your birth goes seamlessly. If you’re reading this shortly after giving birth and you’re noticing some of the symptoms that have been described in yourself, your partner, or someone else that you love, please reach out to us for care. If you’re reading this post two years after a traumatic birth, know that you can look forward to your child’s birthday. The symptoms that you have lived with can be alleviated, and we would love to help you get started on your journey. Feel free to call or text our office line today to set up a free consultation or schedule at our website: 417-708-7909, seentherapy.org. 

American Pregnancy Association. "Baby Blues." American Pregnancy Association, 2021.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Postpartum Depression." CDC, 2022.

Postpartum Support International. "Postpartum Anxiety." Postpartum Support International, 2021.

National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Postpartum PTSD." NIH, 2013.

National Health Service (NHS). "Postpartum Psychosis." NHS, 2021.