The Postpartum Stress Center

09/07/2026

#11-1

09/05/2026

👉Email us: [email protected]
👉Contact us online: www.postpartumstress.com
👉Call us: 610-525-7527 Melanie will call you back and help you feel better as soon as you call.

09/02/2026

Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts.

In the news.

Let's get the information right.

Grateful to The Boston Globe for the opportunity to bring clarity to a conversation surrounded by so much misunderstanding.

"We like to believe that a mother in crisis will disclose the extent of her suffering. But as suffering intensifies, disclosure can become more difficult — out of shame, fear, or a fractured sense of what is real. The clinical work is not simply to catalog her symptoms, but to understand what those symptoms are taking from her: her rest, her certainty, her sense of who she still is.

Women can be profoundly ill and still look, sound, and function remarkably well. Their incentive to present themselves as healthy, capable mothers is high, often taking precedence over admitting how much they’re struggling.

One of our most critical clinical responsibilities is creating an environment where a postpartum mother can tell us exactly what she is feeling, what she is thinking, and what she needs. Because until health care providers reach the core of her suffering, they are only hearing words and risk missing her deepest pain."

Familius

The presence of my book in Lindsay Clancy’s home has been treated as a clue. It isn’t one. Neither is the content of a frightening thought.

09/02/2026

"KK: I wrote Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts to give women language for experiences they are often terrified to disclose. We intentionally made the book visual, accessible, and approachable because asking for help can be difficult when a mother is ashamed or frightened by what she is experiencing.
The presence of a mental health resource tells us very little about a person’s clinical state, but it does remind us why accessible resources matter. Help-seeking can look very ordinary from the outside while the suffering underneath may be far more complicated."

Motherly
Familius

Karen Kleiman, MSW on her popular book, ‘Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts,’ the Lindsay Clancy Trial, and taking moms’ mental health seriously.

09/01/2026

For perinatal therapists in pursuit of clinical excellence
The Art of Holding Perinatal Women in Distress™
www.postpartumstress.com/registration


Ashlee Adams Kumar
Rachel Brabec
Suzuki
Cotler, PhD Jodi Pawluski

09/01/2026

👉Scary, negative thoughts are extremely common after the birth of a baby.

👉Research suggests that unwanted, intrusive thoughts about accidental harm coming to the baby occur in the vast majority of new mothers, while thoughts of intentionally harming the baby are reported by about half.

👉These thoughts can be deeply upsetting, particularly when a mother interprets having the thought as meaning something about who she is or what she might do.

👉Importantly, research suggests that unwanted, intrusive thoughts of infant-related harm—when experienced as distressing and unwanted, rather than as fixed beliefs or intentions—do not predict harming behavior toward the baby.

👉This is important information for new mothers who are frightened by the thoughts they are having.

👉Find someone you trust and let them know what you are thinking and feeling.

08/31/2026

Our Queen.

Here, Kristina Ledlow was Keynote Speaker at Methodist Health System as part of their 2026 Methodist Perinatal Conference: Maternal Minds Advancing Perinatal Mental Health.

She is everything.👑🫶
So much to teach. So much to learn.
Accompanied by KKTC/AOH sister Rachel Brabec and all her loveliness.



Ashlee Adams Kumar

08/29/2026

Read by thousands. Trusted by Experts. Still #1

A compassionate clinically-based resource that helps moms and families feel understood and helps professionals respond to the frightening thoughts and hidden fears that can accompany the transition to motherhood.
Familius

08/29/2026

"We cannot expect a woman who's very, very, very sick to tell us how bad she feels," said Kleiman, a registered social worker. "If there are psychotic symptoms going on, it's our burden to find that, to ask the right questions and to get her the help that she needs."

"Postpartum psychosis is terrifying but treatable, this survivor says. The challenge is finding support"
/Radio-Canada
Cliffel
CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy-9.7324525

08/26/2026

Even when a postpartum mom doesn't feel good - even when her symptoms are severe - she can often muster the energy to do what needs to be done. She can care for her baby, go to work, make dinner, answer the questions, and keep moving through the day.

Her functioning can be misleading to those around her. Others may see what she's accomplishing and assume she's okay.

She can be deeply distressed and still be a capable, loving, competent mother.

Both can be true at the same time.


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