What No One Tells You ― A Guide to Your Emotions from Pregnancy to Motherhood

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 over 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, NPR, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. Dr. Sacks is developing a podcast with Gimlet Media. She is the author, with Catherine Birndorf, of?What No One Tells You. Learn more @AlexandraSacksMD?and AlexandraSacksMD.com.

Catherine Birndorf, MD, is Co-founder and Medical Director of The Motherhood Center, a treatment center in New York City for pregnant and new moms experiencing anxiety and depression. Dr. Birndorf is Founding Director of the Payne Whitney Women's Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology.?Dr. Birndorf is a board member of Postpartum Support International, a non-profit organization for awareness, prevention, and treatment of mental health issues related to childbearing worldwide.?For ten?years, Dr. Birndorf?was a regular mental health columnist for?Self?magazine and has appeared on numerous television programs, including the?The Today Show,?Good Morning America, MSNBC, and CNN. Her first book, The Nine Rooms of Happiness,?co-authored with Lucy Danziger,?was published in 2010.?She is the author, with Alexandra Sacks, of?What No One Tells You.