Written by Bernadett Kasza, Birth Professional
Bernadett is a birth professional and the founder of Womanly Art of Birth. Her vision is to nurture the future of humanity, one birth at a time. Through her work, she helped numerous women and families to have healthy pregnancies and own their desired births and anxiety-free parenthood.
We, humans, are beautiful and complex beings. This article aims to show you the multifaceted ways of bullet-proofing your perinatal period (AKA pregnancy, birth and early parenthood) using the gold-standard model of the biopsychosocial approach.
The term – biopsychosocial model – was introduced by the American psychiatrist George Libman Engel in 1977.
He recognised the significance of looking at a person’s health as a whole not just in a fragmented way.
Biomedical vs biopsychosocial
The biomedical model is the classical Western medical model we all encounter when we go to the doctor with the flu or blood pressure issues. The biomedical model views diseases as isolated bodily anomalies when treating illnesses. The treatment happens through medical interventions (i.e., prescribing medications or surgery).
The biopsychosocial model views a person as a whole and acknowledges that to achieve health, viewing a person’s condition in an isolated way is shortsighted and reductionist.
We humans work in complete sync with the biological, psychological, and ‘spiritual’ self within our social and environmental context.
Some researchers think that when we divide an individual into the sections of biology, psychology, and social factors, “the human being as an object of study is unavoidably lost by all sciences.”
Breaking down the expression of biopsychosocial
‘Bio’ stands for the physical body, which includes cells, organs, biochemistry, genetics, human physiology, and so on.
‘Psycho’ stands for thoughts, emotions and behaviours, a person’s coping mechanism, temperament, beliefs and so on.
‘Social’ stands for a person’s relationships, family dynamics, socioeconomic status, the culture they grew up in, work, physical environment and so on.
How the biopsychosocial model can help you have a healthy pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.
The biological aspect of perinatal preparation
Many healthcare professionals emphasise the importance of leading a healthy life, especially during the perinatal period. Each phase will demand its needs to be met, for example during the first trimester you will experience such tiredness you’ve probably never felt before thus you could fall asleep anywhere, anytime while during the last trimester, you might wake up multiple times a night to use the toilet and might have trouble sleeping due to physical discomfort.
Once your baby is born, your sleep patterns might change again.
The same goes for your diet and your movements. Optimising one’s physical health according to the stages of their perinatal journey is paramount in achieving an overall sense of well-being.
How can this be done? For example, you can turn to a specialised nutritionist, homeopath, chiropractor or osteopath, physiotherapist, biomechanics for birth practitioner and other professionals.
It is very important to know and understand what happens in your body during pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum. Women undergo complex physiological, whole-body changes not just during pregnancy and birth but for about two years following birth.
Knowledge is the absolute foundation for being well-equipped for this life-changing journey thus the best advice I can give you is to attend in-depth antenatal classes. To give you good guidance on what an antenatal course should cover, take a look at the Womanly Art of Birth’s antenatal course content.
Reading books written by many renowned birth professionals globally, like Dr. Michel Odent, a French obstetrician, is another excellent way. His work, in particular, is groundbreaking in the field of childbirth, with 22 published books translated into 12 languages. Dr. Sarah J. Buckley from Australia, Ina May Gaskin from the USA and Dr Sara Wickham from the UK.
The psychological aspect of perinatal preparation
It is important to understand that pre-existing mental health conditions must be taken very seriously when preparing to have a baby. If you are suffering from depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, high stress, or any other mood disorder, please seek out help, as your condition will highly likely worsen. Pre-existing depression, for example, can put you through unbelievably difficult and grueling early parenthood.
It is good practice to not only engage in talking therapy (psychology) but to look into other alternative approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), coaching, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), hypnotherapy and so on. Practicing mindfulness and daily meditation, taking regular rest and learning to cope with stress are equally important.
It is needless to say female hormones step on a rollercoaster from conception and can heighten anxiety very badly, sprinkling everything with worry and fear during pregnancy. In the worst case scenarios, this roller coaster can lead women to postnatal depression or psychosis or simply to fully disempowered early motherhood, feeling like an absolute failure.
Let’s shift the focus onto how the psychological and the biological aspects are intertwined.
For example, by gently exercising regularly and meeting your dietary needs during pregnancy, you will likely be in a generally positive mood, and it goes the other way around, too. If you feel low and disempowered, go to a pregnancy yoga class or put on your favourite music. Believe me, moving around will get your endorphins flowing and by the end, you will feel better. Spending time in nature and socialising will also have a positive effect on your mental health, and it is worth the initial effort of pushing through the barrier of not wanting to do anything.
My specific advice in psychological preparation for expecting mums is learning hypnobirthing. On a good hypnobirthing course, you will learn techniques on how to cope with negative thoughts and feelings, and how to keep stress at bay during pregnancy. It will arm you with excellent coping strategies for a healthy birth. Learn more about the benefits of Hypnobirthing.
From the psychological perspective, we can gently drift into the social aspects of perinatal preparation, the lines of which easily blur with psychological preparation, especially when it comes to the topic of trans – or intergenerational trauma.
Parental experiences always impact the development of their children and grandchildren. If our parents have experienced war, crime, abuse, natural disaster, famine, discrimination, and so on, these experiences can have a negative impact on their lives, resulting in physical and mental illnesses. Trauma can heavily influence parenting behaviours and gene expression in future generations. This concept has only become popular over the last few decades but has been studied over the last century. As trauma affects gene expressions, this topic is also of concern to epigenetic studies.
Above, I listed extreme circumstances, but other, seemingly less severe situations can have a negative impact too: for example, if a little boy was not allowed to cry because ‘boys don’t cry’, they might grow up and be unable to show emotions as they had to suppress them. Or a girl from toddlerhood constantly being belittled by her parents who may unconsciously do the same to her daughter because she doesn’t know how to be any different.
Without conscious effort, these cannot be changed. I warmly advise you to do the inner work before you become pregnant. We all have smaller or bigger issues we carry from our childhood. To ensure that our children are not subjected to these issues through unconscious parenting, we must address what we inherited from our parents and grandparents.
The best way to stop passing on these traumas is to do the work before conception. A brilliant place to start this journey is to find a Family Constellation practitioner. You can read more about family constellations here. Additionally, I can recommend reading books from Mark Wolynn, and Dr. Gabor Mate.
I also highly recommend reading literature from parenting expert Dr. Shefali Tsabary.
The social aspects of perinatal preparation
Continuing to explore the social dimension, let’s look at the society you live in, and how cultural traditions, including religion, view women, pain, and childbirth. In the Western world, the over-medicalisation of childbirth is the norm, in countries like the UK, US, Spain, and Brazil fully managed labour and birth is a normal practice while in places like Japan, women don’t tend to use pharmaceutical pain management and epidurals are only offered in private hospitals.
In countries where birth has become something to manage and babies are “delivered”, people are already groomed into thinking that being induced, rupturing the amniotic sac, and being continuously hooked up to a foetal monitor is the norm. The list of interventions could go on and on. Refusing, declining, and saying no, is viewed as going against the system, and not as standing up for one’s very own birth rights.
For example, if you live in Eastern Europe, you will notice that women are still heavily patronised and, in some countries, are treated only as a vessel for children. As you progress to the West, you will notice women are more able to stand up for themselves. This ability is due to the political and cultural shift that happened sooner compared to the eastern part of the continent.
The direct consequence of this is that the majority of Western women have an innate awareness and are not afraid to speak up and assert their rights. This type of cultural shedding takes a bit of time to spread out to the wider collective.
I’d like to recommend two fantastic organisations advocating for birth rights: Human Rights in Childbirth and Birthrights UK.
We must understand that birth rights are human rights!
One of the most powerful and key elements for a healthy perinatal period is your support circle, your family, friends, co-workers, neighbours, and professional support circle.
Feeling lonely, isolated, and not feeling understood during the perinatal time can lead to disconnection, low self-esteem, and depression. Sometimes even if your partner is supportive, it can still not be enough. Partners often work long hours, and while you are at home with your baby, you may feel isolated, overwhelmed and lonely, hence womanly support is paramount.
Adjusting to motherhood, meeting the baby’s needs, maintaining the home, and finding some time to eat and sleep can burn you out extremely quickly.
My best advice is to find a Doula. Doulas are trained birth supporters; they can work with you and your partner throughout the whole perinatal time. They can be present during your labour and birth, providing immense support for you and your partner. Discover more about what a Doula does.
Postnatal Doulas are brilliant in providing help and support with breastfeeding, for example.
If you don’t have a female friend or a relative to give you a helping hand to look after the baby while you rest, clean, or take care of yourself, I warmly recommend you seek out a local postnatal doula to help.
Last but not least, women and families who are in multiple disadvantaged situations, i.e., living in poverty, are likely to struggle with mental health issues that directly affect their physical health and well-being. This is a very sensitive situation as they often find themselves lacking trust in social or medical services and likely won’t ask for or even refuse help. If you are struggling and aren’t able to afford any type of support, I do hope my words will encourage you to reach out and accept help, so that you are not walking this path alone.
‘Matrescence’ a newly coined anthropological term that encompasses a woman’s transition into motherhood and the changes she goes through in her mind and body from pregnancy through the first few years of parenting and beyond, finding her way and integrating her new and old ‘persona’.
A woman’s transition into motherhood is a fairly long and delicate process, but if you do it thoughtfully and keep the biopsychosocial model as a guide you will not only survive but thrive, and that will have a remarkably positive impact on you and your children’s overall well-being and life satisfaction.
Starting a family is a complex rite of passage, one of the biggest life events in a person’s life, thus it requires careful and conscious preparation, especially in our fast-paced modern world.
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Bernadett Kasza, Birth Professional
Bernadett is a Doula, Hypnobirthing Therapist, Antenatal Educator, Biomechanics for Birth Practitioner and Belly Dance Teacher.
Since 2011, she has been providing information and support to her perinatal clientele, actively championing their rights and wishes in the birthing room.
After her Midwifery studies, she left the profession to create a better educational and support system for women and their families. She has an impeccable record of getting her clients the birth they wish for.
By merging her social and scientific studies, Bernadett provides unparalleled services to families.
An hour-long Hungarian documentary (New Paths in The World of Birth) delves into her life and ground-breaking work in the field of birthing.
Bibliography:
Adlington, Katherine, et al. ““Just Snap out of It” – the Experience of Loneliness in Women with Perinatal Depression: A Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Studies.” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 23, no. 1, 28 Feb. 2023.
Behruzi, Roxana, et al. “Facilitators and Barriers in the Humanization of Childbirth Practice in Japan.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, vol. 10, no. 1, 27 May 2010.
Borrell-Carrio, Francesc, et al. “The Biopsychosocial Model 25 Years Later: Principles, Practice, and Scientific Inquiry.” The Annals of Family Medicine, vol. 2, no. 6, Nov. 2004, pp. 576–582.
Johanson, Richard, et al. “Has the Medicalisation of Childbirth Gone Too Far?” BMJ : British Medical Journal, vol. 324, no. 7342, 13 Apr. 2002, pp. 892–895.
Photo credits:
Tom Saros Photography
