In this book Dr Dawn Kingston, an award-winning researcher and mental health clinician who has worked in many universities across Canada, offers a number of insights and additional resources that I was very happy to have come across.

Mental Health: A New Perspective
The book is divided into eight chapters and though the focus is pregnant women and new mothers, I loved that each chapter has content that someone new to reading about mental health, depression and anxiety would also find helpful.

A glaring shortcoming that Dr Kingston exposes through this book is the focus on postpartum depression in new mothers when there is evidence that the signs for depression can often be prevalent during pregnancy. In the Canadian healthcare system, pregnancy is a time of frequent check-ins with a medical team. I see my maternity clinic monthly until week 28 after which the appointments will become biweekly and after week 36, they will see me weekly until the baby is born. These 15-30 min appointments focus on the physiological measures of my health – weight and blood pressure, and later blood work related to gestational diabetes. There isn’t a mental health professional who I can turn to readily, even though I know one would be available when I need it. Dr Kingston questions this practice of only focusing on the body and not the mind when it is well known that pregnancy is a time of transition like no other. In a system that does not focus on mental health, books like this one are important to give people the tools and information they seek.

Hormones take a lot of blame for the changing body and mood in pregnancy and Your Brain on Pregnancy addresses this belief from the very start. The book is centred around the paradigm that mental health issues are caused by brain and nervous system dysregulation. There are techniques like counseling and talk therapy that have existed for a long time to address mental illness but the takeaway that Dr Kingston wants to drive home is that nervous system regulation is a great way to build our unique toolkit. I loved that singing featured on one of the lists and its effect on improving mental health was talked about.

The Causes and Risk Factors for Depression, Anxiety and Extreme Stress
As a pregnant person, two words that come up a lot are ‘postpartum depression’. My worrying brain wanted to know if I would get it, how would I know I had it and, of course, could I do something to not get it? Family and friends tell me I will be ok and I want to believe them but I just don’t know. Your Brain on Pregnancy is the first book that laid out the causes and risk factors for depression, anxiety and extreme stress for me. The three main causes of negative impacts on our mental health that lead to manifestation of an illness are

A dysregulated nervous system
Genetics
Personality traits
The section on Personality traits was fascinating as it also talked about perfectionism and how it develops in us.

In terms of risk factors, things that allows the causes to grow are:

relationship trouble
toxic stress in the year before pregnancy
a history of mental health problems
lack of support
Learning about causes and risk factors was very helpful to me. It let me logically evaluate whether my fears around depression are valid and the support I have in place that will help me. Through stories and self-assessment tools, the book provides a number of questionnaires and how to interpret them. Some assessments included are ACEs Questionnaire, The Maternity Social Support Scale, The Brief Resilience Scale and The Recent Life Changes Questionnaire. There is a recommendation to return to each self-assessment during pregnancy and postpartum.

‘Anxiety’ is one of those words that I have used in everyday life, mimicking how friends and family use it, without quite understanding what it means. Your Brain on Pregnancy makes a distinction between anxiety and worry. It also outlines how mood swings different from depression. I am grateful to finally know what these conditions feel like and being able to check myself.

Your Brain on Pregnancy was an easy read for me. I found a plethora of information and had that bittersweet feeling at the end when my journey with this book was over. I learned so much and now I go out and use the strategies and return to the pages I bookmarked. I am glad to have read it.

Whether you are new to mental health around pregnancy and postpartum or wanting to learn the latest research, I am sure you will find something new here.

Many thanks to the publisher for an advanced review copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon andSchuster Canada for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This work of nonfiction does the research on mental health during pregnancy, bringing attention to the realities of anxiety and depression outside of the commonly discussed postpartum period.

This book as a whole is validating as someone who struggles with their mental health and wants to become pregnant while also being concerned about what that might look like. There are lots of potential options for care shared here, and as it's research based, it's great to be able to say "it's not just in my head."

Definitely recommend for those trying to conceive or wanting to support someone who is.