7: The Good Mother

Diana Lynn Barnes, Psy.D. LMFT Topics discussed: The Psychological gestation of motherhood, transition to motherhood, societal pressures in motherhood, Postpartum Depression, Postpartum Anxiety, Body and Mind, how chronic continuing stress has an impact on pregnancy and postpartum, who is the “good mother”. Diana Lynn Barnes, Psy.D., LMFT is a past president of Postpartum Support International and currently sits on their President’s Advisory Council. She is a member of the training faculty of Maternal Mental Health Now in Los Angeles as well as the California statewide Maternal Mental Health Collaborative and the 20/20 Mom project. She also sits as the mental health consultant for the California Commission on the Status of Maternal Mental Health Care. She is widely published in the academic literature on all facets of perinatal mental health and wrote the guidelines on Assessment and Treatment of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders for the Perinatal Advisory Council of Los Angeles. In addition to private practice specializing in women’s reproductive mental health, Dr. Barnes presents nationally and internationally and is often retained by legal counsel on cases of infanticide, pregnancy denial, and neonaticide where perinatal illness has been at issue. In 2009, Dr. Barnes received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the field of child-bearing related mood disorders. Dr. Barnes is the editor and a contributing author of a 300 page reference text called “Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan (Springer, 2014) and the co-author of “The Journey to Parenthood: Myths, Reality and What Really Matters” (Radcliffe Publishing, 2007). Dr. Barnes maintains a private practice in Sherman Oaks, California where she specializes in women’s reproductive mental health. For more from Dr. Diana Lynn Barnes, check out: www.postpartumhealth.com Twitter: @ppddoc