Welcome to Monday Mornings with Dr. Mona where each week I answer your questions.

To leave a message call 954-526-2641 and I may pick your question for a future episode.

Let's get to our caller.

Hi Dr. Mona, I love listening to your podcast. My name is Katie and I have a one-year-old.

And my question is how is my battle with postpartum depression going to affect him and is it affecting him long-term?

I have that treatment for it. I am on medication. I see a therapist and I am doing the best that I can.

But is there anything that I am doing or going through that's going to pass on to him or through him emotionally?

Thank you so much.

Hi Katie, thank you so much for this question. This is such an important topic to discuss.

And one I'm very passionate about, not only in my professional career but it affected me personally.

I myself had a traumatic delivery with my son Ryan who's now almost two and a half at the time of this recording.

Saw a therapist after Ryan's delivery and then I also developed severe depression and anxiety eight months postpartum.

My depression was actually very situational in that it was directly related to going back to in-person work in a pandemic at a job that caused me a lot of stress and anxiety.

So all of that combined, having a child at home, it was extremely difficult for me.

I actually discuss the stigma behind maternal mental health.

In a podcast episode I recorded with Dr. Luxman who is a perinatal psychiatrist.

This is episode 39. It's okay to not be okay. I share a little bit about my story.

We talk about normalizing maternal mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and how to know when it's time to get help and so much more.

So make sure you take a listen to that.

First off, there is just a lot of stigma surrounding maternal mental health and even paternal mental health.

I mean, that's actually something that's not even talked about a lot and I'm going to have hopefully a father come on to talk about his perspective or a non-birthing partner because it's something we don't recognize but it's a reality.

I first want to really applaud you for recognizing you needed professional help and getting it.

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