Self-compassion Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of Perinatal Mental Health Issues

In this course, Cindy Cranswick (M.Phil, B.Couns, MACA, MCOS), observes that perinatal mental health issues occur to one in five women and one in ten men in Australia, resulting in perinatal anxiety, perinatal depression, bipolar disorder, and puerperal psychosis. Outlining the consequences for both mother and child of maternal ill health in the perinatal period, Cranswick cites recent neurobiological findings of perinatal changes in women’s brains. These support the notion that mental health issues at this period in a woman’s life should be treated differently from mental health issues at other times. Cranswick proposes that compassion-based therapies are the most effective psychological interventions to improve emotion and mood through their actions on the maternal brain. She discusses three such therapies: compassionate focused therapy, mindful self-compassion, and self-compassionate motherhood, the last of which Cranswick covers in detail.