What No One Tells You

"Your guide to the emotions of pregnancy and early motherhood, from two of America's top reproductive psychiatrists. With a combined thirty years of counseling new and expectant mothers, Dr. Sacks and Dr. Birndorf have seen firsthand how the pressure to be perfect, and perfectly happy, leaves women feeling confused and even ashamed of the emotions that can bubble up during pregnancy. Now, in What No One Tells You, the two psychiatrists show why it's natural for "matrescence"--the birth of a mother--to be as stressful and transformative a period as adolescence. From the swirl of trepidation and joy of seeing that plus sign, to the complexities of bonding with a tiny and mighty newborn human, Drs. Sacks and Birndorf provide a roadmap for mothers-to-be, detailing the emotions (both positive and negative) that can develop, explaining the psychological backstory as to why, and offering women a practical guide for managing the ups and downs of this exciting, exhausting time. After years of hearing their patients say, "But how come no one told me?" Drs. Birndorf and Sacks are ready to share their secrets with the world"--

Alexandra Sacks, MD, is a reproductive psychiatrist affiliated with the Women’s Program at the Columbia University Medical Center and a candidate at the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center for Training and Research. A leading expert in "matrescence," she is known for popularizing the concept in her TED talk with more than one million views worldwide, and in her New York Times article "The Birth of a Mother," the number-one most read piece of 2017 for the "Well Family" section, where she is a regular contributor. Dr. Sacks was a scholar at the DeWitt Wallace Institute for the History of Psychiatry and serves on the American Psychoanalytic Association advisory board for media education. Her work on matrescence and "mommy brain" has been featured in TIME magazine, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and on NPR. Dr. Sacks hosts a motherhood podcast from Gimlet Media and is the author, with Catherine Birndorf, of What No One Tells You. Learn more at AlexandraSacksMD.com and @AlexandraSacksMD.