Perinatal anxiety therapy in Austin

Maybe this is familiar

Maybe you felt an onslaught of anxiety around the time your child was born — you were worried about their safety, whether they were breathing, whether the seatbelt was tight enough but not too tight, whether they were gaining the weight they needed.

Maybe that anxiety became your default setting. It shifted, but it never fully turned off. Your child might be in school already, but the anxiety still feels like your shadow — right there as you try to decide on a dentist or a school, or chasing you when your child is late coming out of the school building or you learn they haven’t met a milestone.

Maybe your mind generates endless lists of things to worry about, from their safety to their literacy development. And maybe you’re also worrying that the anxiety itself — especially any intrusive thoughts you might be experiencing — makes you a bad parent. You’re anxious about the anxiety.

It doesn’t make you a bad parent

If you’re experiencing anxiety, we’ll start by normalizing it. Perinatal and parental anxiety are common — so common that some evidence suggests postpartum anxiety is actually more prevalent than postpartum depression. Experiencing anxiety, even intrusive anxious thoughts, doesn’t make you a bad parent. Your brain and nervous system are trying to help, even when the way they’re doing it makes things harder.

It’s also important to name that anxiety doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We live in a culture that offers parents very little support, from inconsistent access to paid leave, to unaffordable or inadequate childcare, to a nonstop stream of parenting advice and warnings. When you’re carrying that much alone, with that little backup, anxiety is a very reasonable reaction.

What we’d work on

We’ll start by figuring out how your anxiety shows up and where it’s coming from. Part of our work together is understanding how the larger system impacts your anxiety and what you can do individually. Depending on what we find, we might explore how relationship dynamics or role shifts are feeding anxiety, and/or find ways to interrupt the anxiety loops that pull you toward worst-case scenarios. We’ll also work on your body’s experience of anxiety, and build tools for regulating it.

Anxiety is normal, and it won’t ever disappear completely. But with support, you can reduce its intensity — and you’ll have real tools for addressing it when it shows up.

If perinatal depression resonates for you too, you can read more here.