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This article will provide comprehensive information on various treatment options for postpartum anxiety, including both conventional and natural approaches.
Introduction
Under normal circumstances, anxiety presents as a feeling of unease or fear, a reaction to new experiences. With normal anxiety levels, you take extra care where necessary or stay focused, looking for potential risk factors. However, after having a child, there is a high risk of postpartum anxiety, and this can become too intense, last too long, and consume your attention in a way that takes away from daily life, particularly caring for your child.
New mothers who have a history of anxiety disorders are more likely to struggle with postpartum anxiety, but an average of 6% of pregnant women and another 10% of postpartum women will develop anxiety as such, it’s important to know what options there are for postpartum anxiety natural treatment, lifestyle changes, and medication.
It is important to seek the best treatment for postpartum anxiety as soon as you recognize symptoms to ensure the well-being of both the mother and the baby. Treatment for postpartum anxiety includes medication, therapy, and natural options.
Postpartum Anxiety Treatment Options
The best treatment for postpartum anxiety will include a mixture of things that work well for you, such as medication comment therapy and postpartum anxiety treatment natural options that help control symptoms.
-Medication
Medication for postpartum anxiety can include anti-anxiety medication such as benzodiazepines as well as beta-blockers or antidepressants like SSRIs or SNRIs. Benzodiazepines are the most commonly prescribed medication for anxiety, and these help to calm your nervous system activity by increasing GABA.
Incidentally, you can also get over-the-counter GABA pills that you take before bed to do the exact same thing: changing the level of the GABA neurotransmitter to help reduce nervous system activity.
If you are a new mother and you are nursing, be sure to review any potential side effects and contraindications for anti-anxiety medications and your baby.
-Therapy
Anxiety medication has been shown to be more successful when used in conjunction with therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is considered the best treatment for postpartum anxiety where Psychotherapy is concerned.
Cognitive behavioral therapy can provide new mothers with several tactics and perspectives applied to any situation where anxiety is present.
Bigger Picture
Cognitive behavioral therapy can help you when you feel anxious. When many people get stuck with postpartum anxiety, they focus on the details, on one small aspect instead of the big picture.
This can make it difficult to see things clearly, but cognitive behavioral therapy can teach you to think about the situation from someone else’s viewpoint and give advice the same way you might give advice to a loved one or a friend. This can force you to change your perspective and look at the bigger picture.
Worry Time
Postpartum anxiety treatment can encourage you to face your anxiety instead of trying to avoid it or suppress it. This can be done with a cognitive behavioral therapy technique referred to as worry time. Worry time is when you set aside a designated time during the day to focus exclusively on your worries. As a new mother, this might be the same time that you finally get your baby to sleep for their afternoon nap.
During this time, you can set aside 10 or 15 minutes where you go through each of your concerns and you determine whether or not they are grounded in reality, something you can control, and if so, what action you can take to control them.
Anxiety Triggers
Understanding your anxiety triggers and causes is equally important. By doing things like keeping a diary of the times when you feel most anxious, you’ll find that identifying the causes or triggers is much easier, and from there, so are the postpartum anxiety treatment options that you can utilize.
Natural Treatment for Postpartum Anxiety
If you are interested in postpartum anxiety natural treatment to support things like medication and therapy or to use as an alternative, there are many options.
-Lifestyle Changes
Lifestyle changes are often a great way to help reduce anxiety, and this can be simple things like letting your spouse or partner shoulder some of the burden of household responsibilities or caring for the new child, allowing a family member to babysit while you utilize free time for self-care, or just prioritizing naps for yourself.
Some of the most important lifestyle changes extend to things like:
- Getting good sleep when and where you can
- Reducing stress in your immediate environment with things like a cleaning service (or a mother-in-law who is willing to do the same)
- Sharing the burden of nighttime feedings
- Prioritizing self-care and exercise
- Getting outside regularly
As a new mother, these lifestyle changes can help you reduce anxiety where it might be cropping up so that you can shift your focus on the things that matter most.
-Herbal Remedies
There are several herbal remedies that you can use to help control anxiety, as well including lavender, lemon balm, Valerian root, and chamomile.
- Valerian root extract can be added to your tea or taken as a liquid before you go to bed to help you sleep.
- Lemon balm or lavender can be incorporated into your space with essential oils or candles.
- Chamomile tea can help you calm yourself when you feel overwhelmed.
-Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques
Mindfulness and relaxation techniques are some of the most profound ways to control anxiety, no matter what form it takes. Mindfulness and meditation, including breathing exercises and relaxation techniques, can help reduce tension in your body by bringing your focus to the present.
A new mother, overwhelmed by anxiety, can use progressive relaxation techniques to scan her body during times of anxiety and recognize the physical areas where she is holding tension. This can be better done by intentionally tensing and relaxing different muscle groups, helping to physically release tension and calm anxiety.
This is also something that is easily incorporated into meditation, making it easy to relax and release physical tension before going to bed. Doing so can encourage better quality sleep, which is very important for a new mother, especially when sleep quality becomes easier to achieve than sleep quantity.
Mindfulness and moving meditation can be used throughout the day, helping new mothers face their anxiety symptoms instead of turning away from them. This matters because it helps mothers face their fears, gradually recognizing whether those fears are grounded in reality or not.
If they are not, mindfulness can be used to understand better what habits might be making postpartum anxiety worse or to look at the bigger picture instead of getting stuck in the small details.
-Support Groups
Support groups are always a good part of treatment for postpartum anxiety because they give you access to people who understand what you are going through. You can find local support groups and virtual support groups so that you don’t have to worry about getting a sitter.
Summing up
Overall, postpartum anxiety is a serious problem for those who are diagnosed, and there are many postpartum anxiety treatment options out there. What matters most is that you find individualized treatment plans that are tailored to your specific needs and circumstances. If you or someone close to you is struggling with postpartum anxiety, it’s important that you seek professional help so that you can better manage symptoms effectively.