What are the most effective types of therapy for postpartum depression?
Photo by Liza Summer
Perhaps you’ve heard it before. Among the best ways of treating postpartum depression is through therapy. Finding a good therapist is the first suggestion you will hear from individuals who specialize in those challenges. Symptoms that come with depression can be worked through and reduced through psychotherapy. However, this kind of treatment varies tremendously. If you visit https://essentialcarenj.com/, a therapist is likely to offer you one of the following therapies during treatment:
Non-directive therapy
Person-centered or non-directive therapy is regarded as the process of self-discovery and growth where patients resolve their issues on their own.
Therapists act as non-judgmental sounding boards to reflect patients’ feelings and thoughts. This, in turn, enables patients to see themselves clearly.
With that perspective, patients can reinterpret their feelings and thoughts and get motivated to adjust their behaviors positively.
CBT – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
This is one of the most common techniques many therapists use to treat postpartum depression and the symptoms that come with it. The technique helps patients examine their unhelpful ways of acting and thought patterns. For a new mother, expectations for intensive pressure and parenting may contribute to this condition. Your therapist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy may help examine those ideas and shift them to positive self-talk and realistic expectations.
Your therapist may also teach you new techniques to take good care of yourself. These can be through mindfulness meditation and relaxation training.
IPT – Interpersonal Therapy
Next to cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy is another commonly used therapy session to help treat postpartum depression. It basically stems from an assumption that life events and relationships may impact mood and that life upheavals might trigger this kind of depression.
The therapy helps patients develop abilities to communicate and set reasonable expectations in an attempt to deal with stressful situations. Interpersonal therapy also emphasizes the benefit of creating a strong and healthy support network.
IPT can help you break down events triggering your depression into four categories: role dispute, interpersonal deficits, grief, or role transition.
As you share specific things troubling you with a therapist, be sure to choose one of those categories to focus on.
EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing help to address traumatic experiences resulting from postpartum depression. That makes this therapy helpful for women with traumatic childbirths or postpartum PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Using some brain stimulation techniques, therapists may help reprocess your traumatic memories in a manner that can alleviate an emotional attachment to memories of trauma.
ECT – Electroconvulsive Therapy
For people who experience postpartum depression, especially those with some psychotic symptoms associated with their disorder, some therapists recommend electroconvulsive therapy.
Research also shows that this therapy help alleviates depressive symptoms of postpartum depression and psychotic.
In a nutshell!
Postpartum depression remains a popular mental disorder, which impacts 1 in 6 individuals after giving birth. It is not their fault; they did nothing to cause the disorder. And it doesn’t make them a bad person or parent. The chemical, physical, and biological factors causing postpartum depression are beyond their control. But they can do something about it by talking to a therapist to help treat the disorder.