Minding our mental health as women & mothers
Our panel of experts Dr. Evelyn Minaya, Dr. Robin Miller, Dr. Jen Caudle, and Tamika Simpson discuss the intersection of mothering and mental health including topics such as postpartum depression and BIPOC mental health.
Transcript
Mental health is health care. It's a part of you. It's really important for your physical health as well. So we want to normalize it.
[MUSIC PLAYING] There are a lot of factors that are involved with mental health-- external, personal-- that women literally face every
day. So you said, as a biracial Black woman, that you want to ensure that minority and BIPOC groups have equal access to mental health in particular.
Can you explain your approach? In terms of mental health and mental health disorders, the rates tend to be fairly equal across
racial and ethnic backgrounds. However, the access to services is not always as equal.
It can be much more difficult for the BIPOC population. And so just making sure that everyone, one, is considering
that they have these options available to them and that they do have this access. Sometimes in the BIPOC community,
that might not come to your mind as an option. It has been so stigmatized, and there's oftentimes
that lack of resources in terms of coverage. And so just putting that information out there that this is an option that could be available
to you sometimes makes them go, oh, OK, hadn't thought about it. Never thought of seeing a therapist. Or there's the opposite reaction of, no, I
can't see a therapist. What will my family think? What will my friends think? What will my neighbors think? There's all of these feelings that
have to do with the stigma. So one, we want to normalize it and just create those lines of access so that everyone can
get the care that they need. Do you think it's about destigmatizing a conversation that's already happening? Or do you think it's introducing a conversation that's
not happening enough in the first place? Where are we with this, do you think? Yeah, so through the pandemic, there's
been a tremendous amount of anxiety. And although people are seeking care, there are a lot that aren't. And what stops them is maybe they don't know who to talk to.
They don't want to be on drugs. They're embarrassed. And so it's really important that as a provider,
you bring that out in your patient and actually talk to them. So finding people you can send patients
to if you can't talk to them yourself, that's really important. Your mental health does affect and will affect--
it affects your period. It affects your headaches. It affects your physical body. And you just, overall, don't feel good.
It affects your sleep. You can increase your cholesterol, as we already know, with the lack of sleep, right?
It makes you cranky. It makes you nonproductive. So it is a broad spectrum. And all we have to do is have the conversation.
I try very hard to talk to them in depth. If I cannot do it while we have our session,
I'll call them back, or I'll bring them back in. So sometimes I'll leave my office at 7 o'clock, but for me it's well worth it because I
think it's the most important thing, the most important thing. [MUSIC PLAYING]
womens health
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