Future newsletter topics

Here's what you can (maybe) expect in upcoming posts

I was on vacation last week so didn’t get a chance to write a full post. For this week I figured I’d give you a look inside my thought process for upcoming newsletter topics, as well as try to solicit suggestions for future topics!

Next in my Mental Health 101 series, I’m planning to talk about negative intrusive thoughts and images (e.g., thoughts about harming your baby) - a common yet underdiscussed aspect of postpartum life. I’m also planning to discuss postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder, postpartum psychosis, and postpartum eating disorders. I don’t want to only focus on postpartum stuff, though, because I think mental health concerns during pregnancy are often sidelined or not really talked about, but I’m still figuring that out. I also plan to talk about what we know about mental health for trans men who give birth as well as more research that focuses on non-birth parents (e.g., fathers, same-sex parents, adoptive parents). Research on abortion and miscarriage is also something that I think fits in with this series. Finally, I want to cover treatments - a bit about both medication (including during pregnancy) and therapy, though these are huge topics, so I am still figuring out exactly what I want to say about them.

The Mental Health 101 series is definitely harder to write than other posts because I’m trying to introduce and summarize very large topics, so most likely these posts will be separated by “just fun studies that Jasmine wanted to write about” posts. I just read a cool, recent study on oxytocin levels in fathers while they play with their babies that I can’t wait to talk to you all about. I’ve also avoided research on the mental health of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic if only because, ouch, too close to home, but at some point I’ll probably want to dig into that area, too. I’ve also been toying around with writing a few posts that talk about the discrepancy between what parents want to know from studies on mental health (e.g., how they can feel better) and what scientists want to know (e.g., usually not just about how to make people feel better), and how this can lead to difficulties in translating science to the general public.

So those are my thoughts about future topics. It’s a lot! I don’t know the order I will write them, or if I will write them all! I’m not feeling anxious at all about somewhat committing myself to these topics by telling you all about them!!!!

Anyway, if you have other topics or questions about mental health you’d like to see me write about, or read a news article on a study that you are like “hmmm I wonder if this is legit,” I would love to hear about it!