Free counselling for all new mums?

[butagoz]

Dear All

I am just doing a bit of a research here. Could you please tell if you think that a free nationwide counselling service for new mums would be a good idea?
I sometimes help mums through Birth Trauma Association and in most of the cases they are struggling to find a counsellor. GPs are often not helpful, to go private is expensive etc etc.
Having experienced PND myself I can say that having therapy was the reason why I managed to get through it.
So it would be great if every mum who feels she is not coping could have access to counselling services.
Let me know what you think!

Well, obviously it would be A Good Thing if everyone suffering from any sort of trauma or mental health problem had access to suitable help. New mums are no exception.

WHy wouldn't it be?

During my PND the only thing the NHS could offer me was drugs. I lost count of the number of different psychotropic drugs I was given - I think it was around 11 or 12 different ones

In the end I paid for CBT privately at £85 an hour!

I had about 10 sessions but had to stop even though it was helpful because the cost was prohibitive.

I don't know if your idea could work in practise as it would be very expensive, but something in place for mums rather than drugs has got to be a good thing.

As PND is mostly caused by hormone inbalance, I am not sure that counselling is the best choice for dealing with it in the short term. Counselling may well bring other issues to the surface, which would be better left alone until the mum is more settled in herself. Short term course of ADs is probably the best quick fix with monitoring and counselling to follow if still needed.

What I would favour is basic counselling/listening skills training for Health Visitors and GPs. Some are excellent at picking up early signs of PND but others seem to have a blind spot. When I embarked on counselling training, I was amazed to discover that Doctors and Nurses do not get ANY such training as part of their basic courses. We had several health professionals on our course who had realised this ommission in their skill set.

I agree about better training for HVs and GPs. Mine just said 'it's a chemical imbalance, not your fault, here take these pills (prozac) and go away you'll get better'. Having said that the HVs here run a 'transition into motherhood' programme where a group of new mums meet weekly with two HVs trained in CBT to talk about their issues etc. We had ten sessions and I found it absolutely invaluable. If that could be offered to all new mums everywhere, who wanted to take part, that would be fantastic. There were about six of us in the group and we talked about all sorts of issues: anxiety, coping strategies, the CBT triangle thing, relaxation, family, parents, partners, etc'. The coffee and biscuits were good too!

First of all you should ask MN permission and not just bung research in here thanks

Secondly most new mums don't need counselling so why not train HV to be better at catching the ones who do need support instead. And the ones that do need support still don't necessarily need counselling

I think every new mum should have the chance to talk about her experiences of pregnancy and childbirth and the difficulties of having a newborn in whatever amount of graphic detail they like.

Debriefing is hugely important, to put a line under what you experienced, put it in persepctive and to also revisit memories that are unclear or confusing.

I'm sure this is why ante-natal class attendees sometimes bond so closely - becuase they have shared all this ad infinitum, and do not need to worry that what they are saying is boring/scary/repetetive for the people listening.

True physiological PND is due to hormones acting on brain chemicals as someone has already pointed out. Counselling as far as I know doesn't work on a hormonal and seratonin based problem.
Everyone at my GPs surgery can already acess six free sessions of counselling anyway.
The thought that all Mums need 'help' is laughable. If someone tries to psychoanalyse me or tell me I've suffered 'trauma' after I have this baby I'll be less than amused. We need less interference for new Mothers in this country not more.

Sorry - forgot my main point... that I think all mums need good, caring, non-judgmental support from someone who can give them time. They may get this from friends and family but may not have access to this kind of support in all situations. However, I don't think this is the same as needing counselling.

Many people have an excellent birth experience. Health visitors are already trained and expert at spotting the signs of mental illness and providing listening visits.

What mothers need is careful support, without being made to feel needy. Good health professionals make mothers feel confident. Sometimes too much support is distructive.

I agree that all new mums should have ACCESS to counselling but not that they should HAVE counselling. Counselling when you've no need for it is pointless and undermining.

What I think we could do more of though is semi-formal groups for new mums, where you can just share your (what seem like) mad thoughts and everyone else can share theirs and you can come away thinking 'i really thought I was doing shite but in fact I seem to be alright!' Which is basically what hanging out post baby with your NCT ante-natal group is, but not everyone gets to do this.