Available Oct 2010
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Dropping the Baby and Other Scary Thoughts: Breaking the Cycle of Unwanted Thoughts in Motherhood addresses the nature of the intrusive, negative, and anxious thoughts pregnant and postpartum women can experience. It provides answers to the women who seek information, clarification, and validation and is a useful resource for healthcare professionals who work with them. It is a resource for consumers and clinicians who must confront these negative cognitions by outlining what these thoughts are, why they are there, and what can be done about them. The compassionate tone of the book will be a voice that is familiar to many women in the postpartum community, and is written by two clinicians who have established themselves as leading experts and authors in this specialized field.

Table of Contents

Part I: What's Going On.

• A Mother's Anxiety.
• A Closer Look.
• Why am I Having Scary Thoughts?

Part II: Clinicial Concerns.

• How Do You Know if You Need Help?
• Barriers to Relief.
• Screening for Scary Thoughts.

Part III: Breaking the Cycle of Scary Thoughts.

• Things You Can Do to Feel Better.
• Can You Really Change How You Think?
• Professional Treatment Options.
• How Others Can Help.
• Your Personal Treatment Plan.
• Living with Uncertainty.
• Barsky, Afterword.

Author Biography

Karen Kleiman, MSW, is a licensed clinical social worker and founder and director of The Postpartum Stress Center. She is the author of several books on postpartum depression, and an internationally recognized expert on the subject. In addition to her clinical practice, Karen teaches a specialized post-graduate course for clinicians, providing training programs for healthcare professionals and mentoring opportunities for therapists who wish to specialize in the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Amy Wenzel, PhD, is author and editor of many books on topics such as cognitive therapy, cognitive research methods, and close relationships. Her areas of research and clinical expertise and in perinatal anxiety disorders, interpersonal functioning in anxiety disorders, suicide prevention, and cognitive therapy. She is founder of the Hope & Resiliency Clinic, and lectures nationally on issues relevant to mental health and psychotherapy. She currently divides her time between scholarly research, training and consultation, and clinical practice.

"A masterful blending of current research and extensive clinical experience regarding scary thoughts, which is a woefully neglected problem that can haunt new mothers. A soon to be classic in the libraries of both mothers and their health care providers with its invaluable information on an 8-step process to break the cycle of scary thoughts."
—Cheryl Tatano Beck, DNSc, CNM, FAAN, Distinguished Professor, University of Connecticut, School of Nursing

"Dropping the Baby and Other Scary Thoughts by Kleiman and Wenzel is a critical book, tackling a frightening, but generally benign symptom of postpartum illness - intrusive, unwanted thoughts. An expert, compassionate guide, distressed mothers who would never harm a hair on their baby's head will find relief in these pages which convey the appropriate perspective and clinical response to this treatable symptom. Kleiman and Wenzel are to be commended for lighting the path to awareness on an aspect of postpartum illness so often distorted by the media. Dropping the Baby and Other Scary Thoughts, will help engage and heal new moms experiencing the distress and shame of this common symptom."  

—Susan Stone, Past President, Postpartum Support International; National Board, The Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition; Author/Editor, Perinatal and Postpartum Mood Disorders

"This book removes the shame and stigma surrounding a scary topic that is rarely addressed because it is so highly misunderstood. Backed by their extensive clinical backgrounds and supported by current research, Kleiman and Wenzel offer specific strategies and reassurance for new mothers who have scary thoughts, while furthering the understanding of those professionals who treat them."

—Diana Lynn Barnes, Psy.D, past president of Postpartum Support International; co-author, The Journey to Parenthood: Myths, Reality and What Really Matters

"This book is a gift to all new mothers and their loved ones as it demystifies a frightening common and shared experience. The Personal Treatment Plan is an extraordinarily helpful and practical guide for both new mothers and clinicians and serves as a unique resource for women as they attempt to cope with the scary thoughts that accompany new motherhood."

—Deborah Kim, M.D., Assistant Professor and Director Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

"The title alone of Dropping the Baby and Other Scary Thoughts confidently announces that this remarkably common experience, which has historically been shrouded in shame and silence, or at best, described in hushed tones, is now "out of the closet". With an affirming nod to postpartum women, their families, and their caregivers, Karen Kleiman and Amy Wenzel have pooled their collective expertise and deftly created a comprehensive and highly readable resource that simultaneously informs and reassures."

—Margaret Howard, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Medicine, Brown Alpert Medical School; Director, Postpartum Depression Day Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, RI