Feed the Soul Perinatal Wellbeing

01/12/2024

A research team led by Drs. Laura Pritschet and Emily Jacobs at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Elizabeth Chrastil at the University of California, Irvine, revealed for the first time how the maternal brain physically changes during pregnancy.

Results of the study appeared in Nature Neuroscience on September 16 2024.

The study shows that pregnancy can bring significant changes to the brain as well as the body.

Over the course of pregnancy, the body experiences major increases in hormone production. This triggers profound changes throughout the body, including in the brain.

Scans of the brain before and after pregnancy have shown a reduction in gray matter volume. Gray matter contains the bodies of neurons, synapses, and glial cells, and is found mainly in the brain’s surface layer, called the cortex. However, changes in the brain have not been observed during pregnancy.

To better understand these changes, researchers collected 26 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in a first-time mother throughout her pregnancy and beyond. The scans covered the period from three weeks before conception through two years after giving birth.

These results show that the volunteer’s brain underwent changes on an almost weekly basis during pregnancy. This supports the idea that pregnancy is a period of high neuroplasticity—the capacity of networks of neurons to adapt and reorganize.

The findings are a key step in building a comprehensive map of the human brain during pregnancy. Such a map could be a resource for neuroscientists to further explore the maternal brain. The team next plans to record the brain changes during pregnancy in more women. This will reveal whether the changes observed in this study are typical of the broader population. It may also reveal whether variations in these brain changes are associated with health outcomes, such as postpartum depression.

“The more we learn about the maternal brain, the better chance we’ll have to provide relief.”

—by Brian Doctrow, Phd

29/08/2024

Hi

I shall be swimming 5k (plus) in September to raise money for West Sussex Mind

As most of you know I work for West Sussex Mind in the Emotional Wellbeing Service based in GP surgeries.

As part of a team we work with non acute and low risk cases. We provide and co-ordinate the support that helps prevent people becoming more unwell and needing more intensive support.

West Sussex Mind provides a team of professional mental health workers that does this crucial work of supporting and also other incredibly important services like the Help point, Staying Well (24/7 call center for those in crisis and in need of immediate support). Families in Mind and The Pathfinder Recovery Team. Not forgetting all the social activites and group work that goes on.

We are currently in a mental health crisis. The pandemic and the current social economic crisis is exacerbating this further. More and more of us are stepping foward and asking for help. The demand I see in my work is quite overwelming.

I am really proud to work for Mind and be part of this Charity and the vital work it does. BUT this voluntary sector provision however, depends on charity donations to continue to provide this care.

Please donate so we can continue to do this work 🙏🏻

I'm taking part in the September Swim in aid of West Sussex Mind! I'm swimming 5km throughout September to raise funds to support local people with their mental health. Please consider donating to my

03/05/2024

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 “ Rediscovering you”

Raising the awareness that not all mothering experiences are picture postcard perfect.

To those with whom this resonates - I send you my love and support 💜

20/03/2024

Happy International Happiness Day and welcome in the first day of Spring.

We made it 💜🙏🏻

10/03/2024

💜

Mother’s Day is not always a straight forward “flowers, gifts and cards day” for some.

It can bring up quite a lot of mixed up feelings and that might feel quite confusing.

Maybe sit with whatever you feel and know that whatever you are feeling is perfectly fine.

Try not to put any pressure on yourself to feel anything other than how you are in this moment in time.

Try just going with it – be an observer to the feelings that surface on the day.

Try not to plan too much for the day itself. Have low expectations on the day. Anything that comes from this is a positive.

But do treat yourself to something you love.
Maybe take some time on the mat if yoga is your medicine. Maybe an afternoon watching a favourite film, a phone call with a favourite person. Take your own self care pamper time. Take whatever you need that will soothe you through your day.

And finally - Take reassurance in knowing that what you feel is validated and understandable.

Sending love.

💜

29/02/2024

I am so happy to share this news.

The Rewind Technique is finally getting public acknowledgement for its effectiveness in processing trauma.

I have witnessed over and over how this simple technique brings my clients almost immediate improvements soon after they have had their rewind session. I have seen the upward tick in their wellbeing charts. I have heard them talk about how they sense they have more control back in their lives again. Clients who have struggled with the effects of living with unresolved trauma , including birth trauma, for years who feel again like they are on that even keel we seek.

The Rewind deserves this credit. At last. A gold standard randomised trial shows it has a “large effect size in treating symptoms of PTSD”. The trail used evidence from sessions performed online.

As an HG therapist I am specifically trained in the HG protocol in performing rewind either in person or online meaning that anyone anywhere in the UK can access the effective technique and feel better quickly.

Get in touch.
Get better soon 🙏🏻💙

Thank you for sharing.

27/01/2024

Feed the Soul Therapy Rooms id not only providing specialist emotional support during the perinatal period but also preconception too.

I am now qualified to teach fertility yoga.

But fertility yoga can be helpful and supportive for any woman at any stage of their fertility cycle. Even towards menopause and after.

With this specialist yoga knowledge I endeavour to incorporate the ancient art yoga into my therapy sessions sometimes without the client even noticing. Yoga is a philosophy of wellbeing that goes far beyond and is far more the asanas/poses.

It is pure medicine for the mind, body and soul.

Combining my yoga knowledge, midwifery knowledge and my HG Therapists skills I can create bespoke practices for your needs.

29/11/2023

It can all feel very overwhelming can’t it. I know. I get it 💜

Try this decision making tool to reduce the overwhelm 💜

Break it down, step by step. See what comes up 💜

Useful for antenatal, perinatal, postnatal, parenting and actually life in general💜🙏🏻

28/11/2023

Perinatal OCD is when you experience OCD during pregnancy or in the first year after giving birth.

OCD has two main parts: obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are unwelcome thoughts, images, urges, worries or doubts that repeatedly appear in your mind. They can make you feel very anxious, although some people describe it as 'mental discomfort' rather than anxiety.

Compulsions are repetitive activities that you do to reduce the distress and anxiety caused by obsessions. It could be something like repeatedly checking that you locked a door or repeating a specific phrase in your head. Repeating compulsions is often very time-consuming, and the relief they give doesn't usually last very long.

It's normal to worry about your child's wellbeing and want to protect your baby while you are pregnant and after giving birth. But if you start to experience obsessive and compulsive thoughts and actions that affect your daily life and wellbeing, you may be experiencing perinatal OCD.

The obsessions and compulsions you may experience are likely to relate to feelings about being a parent . 
 
These thoughts can be very upsetting and frightening. It's important to remember that they are not your fault.

Both obsessions and compulsions are the strategies your brain develops to relieve the anxiety you are experiencing.

Having a compulsive, obsessive, intrusive thought doesn't mean that you want to act on it, or that you will act on it.
 
Within a setting of our therapeutic relationship you will begin to feel you can trust again and not feel afraid of being judged.  We can work through these thoughts and fears together.

By understanding that the obsessive compulsive thoughts are a way of you managing the anxiety you are feeling, we can start to help you feel more in control and not controlled by your thoughts. 
 
Support and understanding is here and waiting for you.

18/11/2023

Baby blues, postnatal depression and postnatal anxiety.

The 'baby blues' is a brief period of low mood, feeling emotional and tearful around 3 to 10 days after you give birth.

You are likely to be coping with lots of new demands and getting little sleep, so it is natural to feel emotional and overwhelmed. This feeling usually lasts for a few days and is generally quite manageable. 

Postnatal depression is a much deeper and longer-term low mood. It is very different from baby blues. PND and Postnatal PTSD can sometimes gets confused too. PND usually develops within six weeks of giving birth and it can be gradual or sudden. It can range from being mild to very severe and it can last for quite a while if you do not get the right support. 

Lots of people are aware that you can become depressed after having a baby. But many people also experience anxiety during pregnancy and after giving birth.

In fact, it is common to experience depression and anxiety together. Anxiety can be physically and mentally debilitating, very tiring and very consuming.

As an HG Therapist I can explore how you are feeling and make sure that what you are experiencing is low mood and or anxiety and that these symptoms are not created in response to trauma.

We can set about finding out which of your emotional needs are not getting met well and we can begin to find ways of breaking the cycle of depression that you find yourself in.

We will also work on self care and sleep.

We will work together to help you find ways to feel more positive.

Using HG tools I can help you to deescalate these anxious feelings and sensations and teach you ways to manage the anxiety.  

You will begin to understand the anxiety isn’t you but something you are experiencing and we can find ways for you to see that you are not anxiety.

You can be anxious and recognise this but not be of it.

For more information on signs and symptoms and ways of getting help please visit the website or reach out for support.

This does should not be managed in silence, secrecy or shame 🙏🏻💜

10/11/2023

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after childbirth is now so much better understood but still under diagnosed.

We call it postnatal PTSD and it is created by trauma during birth.

So what can makes birth sometimes traumatic is the fear that you or your baby are going to come extreme harm. That your perceive that your lives are under threat. Very often we see birth trauma in women who have lost a lot of blood or who had to have an emergency caesarean, or that a situation may have arisen that creates an emergency situation and you feel out of control and unable to escape. Partners witnessing these events and feeling out of control and unable to protect, can also experience birth trauma.

It could also be that a trauma stored in the brain from before you were pregnant is re triggered during labour and birth. So again your brain perceives the situation as a threat again and so responds with symptoms that are produced by our bodies autonomic stress response to threat - fight, flight, freeze or flop - and stores a template in the memory of threat for the next time a similar situation occurs. It can then get triggered again giving you that same feeling of stress, fear, anxiety and threat that you experienced the first time. The template is checking if you need protection.

HG practitioner are taught a simple and effective way to deal with PTSD. If a traumatic memory is causing panic attacks, phobias or symptoms post-traumatic stress, we can
use a powerful, visualisation procedure, known as The Rewind Technique, to take the emotion out of the memory and enable the memory of the event to be stored away as history, instead of as one that continues to intrude on the present. The memory remains but no longer one that is emotionally arousing or triggering.
 
Postnatal PTSD can be debilitating and exhausting. It is often mistaken for Post Natal Depression. Do not feel have experience this in silence or alone. Reach out for support.

I am here to guide you 🙏🏻 💜

For a full explanation and signs and symptoms please go to my website.

Note: The Rewind Technique is approved by the Royal College of Midwives to resolve Birth Trauma and Postnatal PTSD

08/11/2023

“Every storm runs out of rain” Maya Angelou

If you’re anything like me this weather, time of year, political climate, world climate, economic climate … and our own personal stuff, may well begin to feel harder to filter.

You may feel like magical thinking might help. Thinking things like “oh everything comes in threes” or even start counting magpies! You may feel like it never rains but it pours but as Maya Angelou says “every storm rains out of rain” .

Here in the UK it’s pouring again. News from other parts of the world is currently quite overwhelming.

I hope this post in some way helps you to weather the storm and wait for the rainbow🌈 🙏🏻

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