Making a pregnancy plan for your antidepressant meds

Psychologist & Postpartum Specialist Shoshana Bennett, PhD, shares advice on how to make a pregnancy plan for your antidepressant medications when trying to get pregnant
How To Make A Pregnancy Plan For Antidepressant Medications
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Making a pregnancy plan for your antidepressant meds

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Ideally, before 1 gets pregnant, and you're on medication, you should see a doctor who really specializes in this area, who can help you decide, whether to stay on the medication or not. If you and your doctor have decided that it's best for you to wean off, and you stopped your medical treatment, then, you find yourself feeling bad again, getting depressed, anxious, or another mood or anxiety disorder, definitely go back to the prescribing doctor for a plan of action. Again, don't try to tough it out. Don't try to do this yourself, or just back-up and handle it yourself. See the doctor. Most likely, you'll be put back on the medication. That's absolutely fine. You'll lift right back up where you need to be to carry on to the rest of your pregnancy. But it's very important that you're working with the doctor who truly focuses in this particular area. It is a specialty. So work with somebody who knows what they're doing with medications and pregnancy, who can make sure you're on the right med for you who can dose it well, who will monitor you, and follow you very closely.

Psychologist & Postpartum Specialist Shoshana Bennett, PhD, shares advice on how to make a pregnancy plan for your antidepressant medications when trying to get pregnant

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Shoshana Bennett, PhD

Clinical Psychologist & Postpartum Specialist

Shoshana Bennett, PhD (“Dr. Shosh”) from the popular DrShosh.com Radio Show is the author of Pregnant on Prozac, Postpartum Depression For Dummies, and co-author of Beyond the Blues: Understanding and Treating Prenatal and Postpartum Depression & Anxiety.  She is also the creator of the new mobile app PPD Gone.  National TV shows including  20/20, Discovery Channel, The Doctors and The Ricki Lake Show feature Dr. Shosh as the pregnancy and postpartum mood expert and news stations such as CNN consult her. Several publications including the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News have written articles on Dr. Shosh’s work.  She’s interviewed regularly on national radio and has been quoted in dozens of newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, WebMD, Boston Globe, Fit Pregnancy, Glamour, Parenting, Psychology Today, New York Post, Self, Cosmopolitan, and the Chicago Tribune. 

Dr. Shosh is a pioneer in the field.  She is a survivor of two life-threatening postpartum depressions. She founded Postpartum Assistance for Mothers in 1987, and is a former president of Postpartum Support International. Dr. Shosh helped develop the official Postpartum Support International training curriculum for professionals which is now considered the gold standard in the field. She has helped over 19,000 women worldwide through individual consultations, support groups and wellness seminars.  As a noted guest lecturer and keynote speaker, she travels throughout the US and abroad, training medical and mental health professionals to assess and treat postpartum depression and related mood and anxiety disorders. She earned three teaching credentials, two masters degrees, a PhD and is licensed as a clinical psychologist.

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