There is a silent kind of heartbreak that happens when the world keeps moving, but yours has stopped. The emails keep flooding in. The school drop-offs still occur. It feels like you are moving through the mud. If you have experienced a pregnancy loss, you may be familiar with the feeling.

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month; a time meant to honor and remember. But it is also a dedicated time to acknowledge a loss in a culture that rarely slows down, even for grief.  

As a maternal mental health therapist, I work every day with women navigating the emotional intensity of pregnancy and parenthood—many experiencing anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or depression so severe it disrupts daily life. I reassure them that with the right support, recovery is possible; in fact, research shows that 80% of individuals recover from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders when treated appropriately. Yet what should bring relief is often met with hesitation and fear—especially when medication is part of the conversation. This fear only deepened following a recent FDA panel that questioned the safety of antidepressants during pregnancy, despite no new scientific evidence. What concerns me most is not the panel’s claims, but how quickly misinformation can fuel stigma and create unnecessary barriers to lifesaving care.

As a therapist, I often encounter clients wrestling with the pressures of modern parenting. Among the most debated approaches is gentle parenting—a method emphasizing empathy, respect, and positive reinforcement. While its intentions are rooted in compassion and fostering emotional intelligence in children, a pressing question arises: Is gentle parenting inadvertently harming parents' well-being?