Can you experience birth trauma even if the birth went well, medically speaking? I get asked this question a lot. If you've given birth or witnessed someone giving birth, you know that no matter how prepared you are, things might go sideways — and not only in the medical sense (such as fearing for the mom's or child's life). That's why in today's podcast episode, I want to dive deeper into the topic of birth trauma, demystify the reasons why you can experience birth trauma even if the birth went well, explain the symptoms of birth trauma, and much more.

Before you tune into the episode, I want to give you a little warning. If you're a trauma survivor, this podcast episode might be triggering for you, as I talk about trauma in detail and give real-life examples. Please feel free to skip parts of the episode or the entire episode completely if it causes you any distress.

In this episode, I chat about:

• What trauma means in the context of mom's mental health
• What birth trauma means in medical terms
• Common symptoms of birth trauma
• Why your brain may link birth trauma with previous sexual abuse if you're a survivor of sexual abuse
• How to change the negative emotional charge in your body
• How you will view your birth trauma after resolving the experience

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Quote:

“Trauma is not just one big event that left you with PTSD symptoms.”

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Hello and welcome to the very first episode of Trauma Healing for Postpartum Moms. My name is Danik Bernier, and I'm a mom of two littles, a social worker, and a psychotherapist. I can't tell you how excited I am to bring this podcast to life because I've experienced postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms during pregnancy myself. Like most moms, I believed that feeling mentally drained was a normal part of motherhood and that I should just get over it or else I'd be failing my son.

But after going through the experience and talking to hundreds of postpartum moms, I know that's not true. That's why it's become my mission to help other postpartum moms heal their trauma. Tune in to today's episode as I tell you more about myself, my great-grandmother's and my own postpartum experience, how I help moms heal their intergenerational trauma, and so much more.

In this episode, I chat about:

• My postpartum experience
• What postpartum psychosis is and why it's important to understand
• Why my great-grandmother was placed in an asylum
• What intergenerational trauma is
• What EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is and what the process looks like
• Why talk therapy alone may not be effective for healing intergenerational trauma

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Resources from this episode:

• Mental hygiene: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408392/
• Postpartum Psychosis: https://www.postpartum.net/learn-more/postpartum-psychosis/
• Regulation 17 in Ontario: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/35963/ontario-apologizes-for-1912-law-on-french-in-schools
• Information about EMDR therapy in the perinatal period, from pregnancy to postpartum: https://www.emdria.org/public-resources/emdr-therapy-for-perinatal-mental-health/ 

Quote:

“Like most moms, I was made to believe that feeling like you were hit by a truck, physically and mentally, was just a normal part of motherhood and that I should just suck it up because if I don't, that means I already failed my son.”

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only.