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We continue in the month of May, Mental Health Awareness Month! We always need more awareness and advocacy for mental health in general, but for far too long, maternal mental health has been underrecognized and underdiagnosed. So many people have suffered without good resources and the proper support in place. Today\u2019s guest has vast experience with perinatal mental health, and it allows her to see the long view of how far we\u2019ve come and how far we still need to go. Join us to learn more!\nKaren Kleiman is a well-known international maternal mental health expert with over 35 years of experience in the field. She is a strong advocate and the author of several groundbreaking books on postpartum depression and anxiety. Her work has been featured online and in the mental health community for decades. In 1998, Karen founded The Postpartum Stress Center, and in 2022, she founded The Karen Kleiman Training Center, which is dedicated to the advancement of clinical expertise and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. All of her advanced trainings are heavily influenced by The Art of Holding Perinatal in Distress\u2122 model of intervention, created by Karen. In this conversation, we take a close look at intrusive thoughts and identify those that are normal and those that need an increased level of intervention. Karen\u2019s latest book is Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers. Her other books include The Postpartum Partner, What About Us?, This Isn\u2019t What I Expected, The Art of Holding in Therapy, and Dropping the Baby and Other Scary Thoughts.\xa0\xa0\nShow Highlights:\n\nWhy Karen writes books as a unique avenue to empower moms\n\nHow the pandemic doubled and tripled exponentially the anxiety and fears for new moms\n\nHow the \u201cscary thought\u201d range can vary from mild to very awful\u2013and they don\u2019t always come with thoughts of hurting your baby or yourself\n\nWhy postpartum depression doesn\u2019t always feel like symptoms\u2013but like the mom is broken\n\nHow to know if scary thoughts are \u201ctoo scary\u201d by measuring a mom\u2019s distress:\n\nHow much is it interfering with her ability to get through the day?\n\nHow much is it interfering with who she is and how she functions?\n\nHow women are built to function well with very high levels of distress\n\nWhy Karen hopes her book can help moms ask for help when they need it\n\nWhat the statistics show around intrusive thoughts about harm to a mother\u2019s baby\n\nHow every new mom experiences some obsessions and compulsions around their baby\u2019s safety\n\nWhy the core of Karen\u2019s work has become holding space for the authentic suffering of moms when they think they are \u201cfine\u201d\n\nWhy relationship problems have to be addressed along with postpartum depression and anxiety\n\nWhy connection to a partner is the #1 most important way to help a suffering mom\n\n\nResources:\nConnect with Karen: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Book: Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts, and LinkedIn\nCheck out Karen Kleiman\u2019s other books: Website and Amazon\nVisit www.postpartum.net for resources and support!\xa0\nVisit www.postpartum.net/professionals/certificate-trainings/ for information on the grief course.\xa0\xa0\nVisit my website, www.wellmindperinatal.com, for more information, resources, and courses you can take today!