Welcome back to our Generation COVID series where we’re exploring the impact of the pandemic on pregnant and postpartum parents.

In this episode, we’re focusing on childbirth and parent mental health. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski interviews Dr. Sharon Dekel and three parents. Together they discuss the pandemic impact on child birthing experiences, the increase in traumatic child births, and the overall mental health challenges new parents have faced in these uncertain times.

Additional Resources

7 Symptoms Every Pregnant Woman Should Know (Preeclampsia Foundation)

1-833-9-HELP4MOMS – National Maternal Mental Health Hotline

Línea Nacional de Asistencia de Salud Mental Materna Para Mamás Primerizas y Embarazadas

For some women giving birth in the pandemic, the trauma led to personal growth by Juli Fraga (The Washington Post)

Meet Our Guests

Dr. Sharon Dekel is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Psychiatry Department at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Postpartum Traumatic Stress Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is known internationally for her research on childbirth-related posttraumatic stress. Her work, which has been continually supported by the National Institute of Health (NIH), brings together clinical and developmental psychology, psychophysiology, neuroscience, and machine learning to develop novel screening and interventions for at-risk individuals. Her current project examines the maternal brain and the neural profile that underlies childbirth-related PTSD. She also serves as the principal investigator of the Mothers Wellness study that assesses traumatic childbirth in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Dekel is a two time recipient of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation’s Young Investigator Award; of Harvard’s Mind Brain Behavior Awards; and of Mass General's Executive Committee On Research Awards. She was awarded the MGH's Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award for Women in Science and the Postpartum Support International Susan A. Hickman Memorial Research Award for excellence in scientific work on postpartum mental health. Dr. Dekel earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University. She then completed her clinical internship training at Columbia Medical Center and continued to a research postdoctoral fellowship in a lead trauma lab in Israel. Her prior work on the human capacity to thrive in the wake of trauma is considered pioneering in the field. Dr. Dekel also has a private practice in which she treats peripartum individuals.

Many thanks to parents Jillian, Stacey, and Dan for sharing their pandemic childbirth and mental health stories in this episode.