Unwanted Thoughts, Loving Heart: Postpartum Anxiety and OCD Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe postpartum anxiety, intrusive thoughts and perinatal OCD. Writers describe how it began — a frightening image on the stairs, in the bath, near a balcony or a kitchen knife — and the rituals that followed: bottles sterilised until hands cracked and bled, forty checks a night, tapping the cot rail in sets of four, wipes instead of water for weeks, rules for every visitor, a car the baby could no longer ride in. There is the silence, often for months, out of fear that saying it aloud would bring social services or a verdict of madness, and then the moment it was said to a GP, health visitor, midwife or nurse who knew exactly what it was. Writers describe exposure and response prevention, CBT, medication while breastfeeding, therapists who were wrong for the job before the right one, and recovery that was real but not always final. Contributors include fathers, adoptive and non-birthing parents, a firefighter, a midwife and parents posted far from home. Later chapters cover grief and OCD together, rural waiting lists, cultural silence, a fifth baby, and planning ahead for the next birth.

Who it's for

For new parents frightened by their own thoughts, partners who have noticed the checking, health visitors and perinatal mental health teams, and anyone who kept these thoughts secret for fear of what they meant.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 283 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.