I am not a social media person. In fact, I belong to zero social media platforms -- except Tik Tok where I monitor my children’s accounts, which if I am honest with myself, I rarely do anyway. As with everything, I hope they are being (mostly) responsible. I expect them to make mistakes as we all do – and hopefully they don’t make huge ones. These are weird times, so I find myself exploring sending out a social media message. I have been asked by Kate Kripke, the founder of the PWCB, to add something of value to the newsletters and social media posts that go out from the PWCB. So, I am trying to be thoughtful in what I can offer you as a physician in my field.

I know a lot about my field. I am an expert in the psychopharmacology of treating women during pregnancy and postpartum --- this means I know a lot about the risks and benefits of medications during and after pregnancy. Weighing the risks of antenatal (during pregnancy) exposure to medications vs the risks of the illness itself, and helping women understand this equation, is what I do best.

I believe I am a good doctor.

I love talking to patients and helping women understand that they have choices.

I consider what I do as giving women the reproductive right to feel well during pregnancy and postpartum – to not suffer in the name of the fetus because the science shows that maternal suffering is actually not good for the fetus. And, it is certainly not good for a growing infant/toddler to have a stressed out, depressed mother. I am not an infectious disease doctor. I am not an expert in COVID. Nor can I give advice about testing, predictions of treatment or herd immunity. Because of what I do, I know a little about vertical transmission of COVID and other illnesses from a pregnant mother to her fetus or from a mother to her nursing infant. But these concerns really are best addressed with OB’s and infectious disease doctors.

As a psychiatrist, as a thoughtful parent and human being, and as a good doctor, I can validate for you that parts of the world are unrecognizable right now. What we are all experiencing is grief – David Kessler who is a leading expert in treating grief speaks to this point in a helpful article We may have loved ones that are vulnerable, we may be anxious about our own vulnerability, we may have a child that has a chronic disease, as I do. Even if we have none of these concerns, it is impossible to escape some level of worry -- whether it is financial, medical, or emotional.

It is important to understand that this crisis will end. We don’t know when – but it will end. Hold onto that. It helps to know that no pandemic goes on forever. Never in the history of the modern world has a pandemic gone on endlessly. It will end. Try and remind yourself of that every day.

So much is out of our control right now, so we have to make an extra effort to do the things that are in our control that help us stay well.

Practice good healthy habits as best as you can.

Be good to yourself.

Try to find the comfort in little things – whether it is going for a walk or watching your kid bite into a cookie, or laughing at a show.

If you are on medicine, take it. Take it as prescribed. Talk to your doctor.

Sleep is important. If you are not sleeping well due to stress, talk to your doctor.

Get more exercise.

Make a schedule for yourself if it feels better to go through these blurred days with some structured sense of your life.

This will end and normal life will resume. Life may not look the same for a long time, but we will all have experiences where, for moments, the discomfort lightens. And over time, those moments will last longer and longer, and become more frequent. We will reach a new normal eventually, and that new normal will bring with it relief and hope.

Jennifer Rhodes, MD