ABSTRACT
It is not easy to sit with and absorb the suffering of others. Emotions and behaviors such as raging, blaming, self-annihilating, sarcasm, criticizing, panicking, hyperventilating, denying, weeping, obsessing, despairing, lamenting, self-loathing, and mourning can defy every attempt to hold a post-partum woman in distress. Brutal emotions can sabotage an unsuspecting new mother. They can also sway her into self-sacrificing or hypercontrolling demeanors that are hard to break and equally difficult to live with. Emotions can be misperceived. One's own mix of experiences, combined with any number of factors that add to the interpretation and misinterpretation of another's emotional experience, can lead one off course. Appropriate self-care demonstrates a healthy respect for oneself and their clients. Because people's psychological well-being directly affects the therapeutic process and the well-being of one's client, this is not a luxury. Working harder will not make anything better.
