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This blog was originally posted on Ten Percent Happier on April 22, 2022 and is reprinted here with permission

The idea that mental illness and psychiatric disorders are afflictions that only affect the brain is now regarded as incorrect. We know that the brain controls the body and when the brain doesn’t function properly, the body suffers the consequences, and vice-versa.

It’s common for a new mother to experience thoughts or worries about her newborn child. I remember the worrying thoughts I had shortly after my son was born when I left for an ADAA conference for a few days.

Postpartum mood disorders are among the most common and debilitating mental health problems in the U.S. (1-2), with the capacity to interfere with maternal function, infant health (3-4), and maternal-infant bonds (5).