76: Perinatal Mental Health & the Military Family

  Just in time to honor Veterans Day, we talk with Dr. Melinda Thiam about what life might be like for some military mamas. In this fascinating and necessary discussion, Dr. Thiam talks with about the unique aspects of perinatal mental health in the military family.  Dr. Thiam highlights: *The stressors for both for the perinatal mother who is in active duty and for the perinatal mother who is the spouse of an active duty person. *She addressed the need for more healthcare providers to receive training in Perinatal Mental health to be able to help mothers. *The need for healthcare providers to take TriCare insurance so that these mothers and families can access the care that they need. *Understanding the stress that military life may bring and how that may impact social supports. Resources: Link to Book: https://www.routledge.com/Perinatal-Mental-Health-and-the-Military-Family-Identifying-and-Treating/Thiam/p/book/9781138924789 Postpartum Support International: http://www.postpartum.net/get-help/psi-support-for-military-families/ Dr. Thiam Bio Dr. Melinda Thiam, M.D. is a board certified staff psychiatrist who was a military psychiatrist until she retired this past June 2017. She is currently splitting her time between private practice psychiatry with Future Psych Solutions in Columbia, SC and Community mental health. During her time in pediatrics, Dr. Thiam witness the challenges of perinatal mental health for numerous spouses who had to give birth alone while their spouses were overseas serving the country. Dr. Thiam also was able to experience first-hand the challenges of being an active duty mother in the military. Through these experiences, Dr. Thiam saw many mothers suffer in silence as they found that pregnancy was not the joyous period they thought it was and new motherhood was met with darkness, sense of shame and belief that one was a ‘bad’ mother. The plight of the pregnant and postpartum mother led Dr. Thiam to switch to psychiatry with desire to specialize in women’s mental health. She initiated/led a mother-infant dyadic therapy group for last two years of residency and went on to recruit of group of perinatal mental health experts in the military/civilian population to edit manuscript Perinatal Mental Health and the Military Family: Identifying and Treating Mood and Anxiety Disorders. While this book is targeted toward military population, it is all applicable to general population and is my desire to build a practice specializing in women’s mental health/reproductive psychiatry.  For all Mom & Mind episodes, go to: www.momandmind.com