With the self-help movement growing like wildfire, thousands of books, apps and websites have popped up teaching people quick hacks to bring down their stress.
From exercises on how to breathe deeply, guided visualizations and symptom checklists, these tools are meant to provide support at your fingertips, with the goal of getting you to feel calmer as quickly as possible.
I’m a huge fan of helping people learn simple but powerful strategies to lower stress.
You don’t always need to dig up your childhood to find relief for your anxiety.
As a clinically trained therapist, I believe this is especially important to avoid when you have pregnancy complications, because you are living a trauma every second of every day.
At a time when you’re unsure about your health and the safety of your baby, the last thing you need is additional stress and anxiety by opening up past wounds. (Tweet that!)
What you need are proven strategies on how to get through today to get to tomorrow so you can continue to protect your baby.
As a pregnant woman with complications, there’s a tremendous load on your shoulders.
You feel solely responsible for the life inside of you, and you are fiercely determined to do everything in your power to protect your little baby.
Yet, so many women decide to manage their stress levels by themselves, relying on these self-help tools instead of bringing another professional onto their prenatal care team.
Self-help tools may be great when you have the time to explore new strategies, see which ones work best for you and give them a few weeks to understand the effects.