Hello, and welcome to Kasi Shan Therapy’s blog page! Below you’ll find a variety of different articles focusing on prenatal/postpartum mental health, trauma, and emotional well-being. I hope these words bring you comfort, insight, and strategies to support your healing experience.
This blog provides general information about mental health. It is intended for informational purposes only. The content provided on this website should not be considered as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult your therapist/care provider before making any health care decisions.
The following topics are discussed on this blog. Click on the tags below to jump to a specific topic:
abandonment abuse addictions another baby anxiety attachment avoidant parent baby blues body image breastfeeding changing habits childhood trauma COVID-19 D-MER DBT EFFT EMDR exposure therapy grief healing IFS inner critic internal family systems therapy mental health Mindfulness negative voice new parent parenting parenting worries perfectionism perinatal mental health postpartum postpartum depression postpartum loss pregnancy ptsd self-care shame sleep substance use support therapy trauma validation window of tolerance
6 Ways to work with the negative voice in your head
That negative voice inside your head can be debilitating. It floods you with “what if” scenarios, shames you endlessly about mistakes, and keeps you disinterested in life. It triggers all sorts of responses within you. While your thoughts can be motivating, insightful, and creative, they can also attack, shame, and overwhelm you. You may have…
It’s not you! It’s your Sleep: Postpartum Mental health and Getting Enough Rest
It’s unavoidable as a new parent that you are sleep deprived. You’ve got endless disruptions at night from numerous feedings, diaper changes, and the ever-present grunts and squawks coming from your newborn. You may be turning towards different coping strategies (e.g. asking friends and family for help, grabbing naps, consuming endless cups of coffee, or…
The inconvenient truth about why therapy takes so long
You had high hopes when you signed up for therapy. You imagined the end result where problems were manageable, relationships were healed, and your mental health was top notch. With these goals in mind, you began the journey of connecting with a therapist, saying: “Help me change. Make this stop hurting.” But, now you’re starting…
6 Reasons why you are pushing others away
Is pushing others away a common pattern in your relationships? There may be times when you are baffled by your own actions. Why are you actively distancing yourself from someone you like? Everyone else seems to respect and like this person, so what’s making you so eager to get away? It’s a jumble of emotions…
Recognizing Childhood Trauma
The term “childhood trauma” may stir up different emotions in you. You might feel cautious in referring to your experiences with this label. Yes, childhood was not a happy time, but does it count as “traumatic?” On the other hand, you might feel clear about this label. You are aware that childhood sucked. There were…
Understanding why we personalize: How to move away from guilt and blame
Many of us fall into the trap of personalization. This is a type of thinking pattern where we take responsibility and blame ourselves for something, irrespective of whether we had any control over the outcome. Consider the last time your partner was upset, your child had a meltdown, or your boss didn’t give you a…
When you can’t logic your way out of feeling
Your way of coping with the world is to intellectualize. You use your logic to talk yourself out of feeling a certain way. You’re able to stay away from the vulnerabilities inside by managing the situation with reason, problem solving, logic, and planning. Sounds pretty good, right? What could go wrong? Intellectualizing feelings often means…
Drinking and Postpartum Depression
Your world feels chaotic and there’s no escape. There are endless hours between naps, feedings and the constant fatigue. There is no one around to talk to and you feel overwhelmed and frustrated all the time. Having one more drink feels awful, but it gives you that escape you’ve been craving. Sound familiar? Whether you…
7 Tips for Parents Going Back to Work
How are you feeling about going back to work? The past few months have been all about baby, and now you’re suddenly expected to balance work, childcare, and other needs. There’s no way this can go smoothly. If you’re among the many, returning back to work after maternity leave (or paternity leave) can be a…
Postpartum Anxiety and Feelings of Overwhelm
It may seem that being overwhelmed is just a given. You’re up to your eyeballs in dirty diapers and wet burp clothes. You can’t remember the last time you had more than a few hours of rest. What even is breakfast? You run on a steady stream of coffee and fistfuls of cheerios. When you…
Struggling with body image during pregnancy
The worst part of prenatal visits? Going to your healthcare provider’s office and stepping on that scale at Every. Single. Appointment. As if you need any reminder that your weight is increasing at an alarming rate. You know this. You feel huge. No other pregnant mom looks as big as you do. You shouldn’t have…
How to overcome shame
Why is it so hard to overcome shame? What keeps our shame cycle going? If you’ve struggled with shame, you’re well aware how debilitating it can feel. It can take over and impact your actions, decisions and the ways in which you feel about yourself. I hope this post will provide you some clarity in…
Shame and the postpartum experience
One of the biggest aversions to attending postpartum therapy is shame. You feel ashamed that your emotions are messy. This isn’t like you. Normally, you’re calm and cool. But, suddenly your hormones are all over the place, your hair is a mess and you can’t remember the last time you showered. There hasn’t been a…
Starting trauma therapy? Tips to support those initial fears
It’s normal to feel a bit nervous when you’re connecting with a new therapist especially when you’re starting trauma therapy. This is the person you intend to tell your vulnerable history, and pray that they know what to do with all that information. The idea of opening up to share your lowest times can be…
Little Known Ways to Surviving The Newborn Stage
If you are in your first few days of parenting, congratulations! Welcome to the club! 🙂 The newborn stage is exciting and petrifying. If you are a first time parent, you may be tested in ways that you’ve never dealt with previously. I hope the following tips will help you during these early days. The…
The fear of abandonment: Why am I trying so hard?
Does the fear of abandonment push you to act in undesirable ways? How often do you jump through hoops to suit another person? Do you feel a constant pressure to do more and be more so that others are not upset with you? To cope with these fears, you may have learned to keep your…
Considering trauma therapy? How to tell if EMDR is right for you
If you have been searching for trauma therapy, chances are that you have come across the term “EMDR”. While there are many types of therapy that can address trauma, EMDR has become well known in the counselling world as being an excellent and fast option for processing difficult life events. But how do you know…
The pressures of breastfeeding
That first year with a baby is all about feeding, feeding and more feeding. For every parent, there is a time when he or she decides whether to breastfeed, exclusively pump, stick to formula, or use a combination approach. There are a variety of factors that push a parent towards one choice over the other.…
How to help someone who is grieving
What has been your experience with grief? Have you gone through the process yourself? Do you feel overwhelmed when others experience loss? Working in the perinatal field, I am surrounded by parents who have survived loss. These experiences vary vastly from the endless cycles of hope and loss during IVF treatment, to processing a miscarriage,…
Should I be concerned about PTSD?
If you have survived a traumatic experience, it’s natural that you are feeling worried about how to proceed. You may have many concerns running through your mind: How long will I feel this way? Am I supposed to seek treatment? Is it normal for me to feel like this? Whether it’s an unsettling birth experience,…
What is happening with my mood?! D-MER and Breastfeeding
What is your experience with breastfeeding? Do you feel angry or tearful as soon as you start? Is there a sense of dread when you begin another pumping session? How intense is your anxiety during these moments? When it comes to nursing, there are many parents who enjoy the experience and feel it’s an opportunity…
Support for the avoidant parent
Sure, you and your partner have talked about having a child. In theory, it seemed fine. But now that your baby has arrived, it feels harder than you ever expected. It is exhausting trying to connect with this unresponsive baby. It feels like everytime you pick up your child, he or she knows to scream…
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