Your Brain on Pregnancy by Dawn Kingston (ARC Review)

Title: Your Brain on Pregnancy: A Guide to Understanding and Protecting Your Mental Health During Pregnancy and Beyond
Author: Dawn Kingston
Type: Nonfiction
Genre: Health, Parenting
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date published: September 17, 2024

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Simon & Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

An enlightening and practical guidebook for mothers to help them navigate mental health challenges during and after pregnancy—based on cutting-edge science by one of the world’s foremost researchers of maternal mental health.

For women who are expecting, pregnancy can be a time of excitement, but it also comes with the expectation that they are supposed to feel happy and joyous—that they must be “glowing.” The truth is that many women who are pregnant experience troubling anxiety, depression, and stress, accompanied by feelings of guilt, shame, and inadequacy. They are often ashamed to seek help, chalking up their feelings to changing hormones, lack of sleep, or a phase that will eventually go away.

In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Dawn Kingston, world-renowned expert on mental health and pregnancy, reveals that more women are affected by mental health issues during pregnancy rather than after it. While postpartum depression is a real and serious issue, depression during pregnancy is lesser known but just as pernicious, if not more so. Over the course of her twenty-five years working with women and babies as a registered nurse and mental health clinician, Dr. Kingston has discovered that as many as one in four pregnant women struggle with their mental health, and without treatment, symptoms can continue after the child is born, impacting a mother’s long-term health as well as her baby’s development. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Kingston takes readers through the three most common mental health struggles—anxiety, depression, and toxic stress—and shows how common life challenges such as relationship issues, financial problems, job transitions, and lack of support are often the trigger. She also debunks the popular belief that hormonal changes are to blame. Then, using proven science-based strategies, she shares easy and effective ways expecting parents can manage the stress and other feelings caused by these challenges, and actually reverse negative effects to make a lasting difference to both them and their babies.

With real-life stories, easy-to-use self-assessments, and advice on how to talk to your doctor, this definitive and practical book breaks down stigma and gives women the tools they need to safeguard their health and their baby’s health for all the milestones to come.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Your Brain on Pregnancy came to me at a very good time, as I was pregnant when I read it! I was especially interested in learning more about the science behind the mental and emotional changes that come with pregnancy, and this book promised to break it all down in a way that was accessible and informative. Given how little discussion there often is about the cognitive side of pregnancy compared to the physical, I was eager to learn some new things.

I will recommend, though, that anyone interested in learning most effectively from Your Brain on Pregnancy do so before getting pregnant. I was definitely suffering from brain fog while reading this book, therefore probably picking up less information than I normally would have. The irony wasn’t lost on me—I was experiencing the exact symptoms the book discusses while struggling to absorb all the details!

That aside, there was a lot of interesting stuff in Your Brain on Pregnancy. I felt very seen and vindicated in a lot of instances, and more informed in others. The book delves into the neurological shifts and emotional experiences of pregnancy in a way that made me feel reassured. It also offered insights into how to navigate these changes, which I found helpful.

I will say that the book was very text-heavy (which I think I expected, considering the complexity of the subject as well as the science aspect), but this could very well be only the case with my advanced reader copy. I haven’t seen a finished copy, so it possibly has more visuals peppered throughout! Even so, the content itself was engaging enough to keep me reading, even if my pregnancy brain made it a bit more challenging at times. All in all, a very interesting and informative read!