ABSTRACT
Women can experience a whole range of negative emotions, distressing cognitions, and uncomfortable sensations throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period, together referred to as the perinatal period. While perinatal depression has gained considerable attention in the media and research in the past decade, perinatal anxiety has been less of a focus. This chapter introduces the concept of scary thoughts and defines the five types of scary thoughts focused on throughout this book, namely excessive worries, rumination, obsessive thoughts, intrusive memories, and catastrophic misinterpretations. Five women are also introduced as case examples to bring these concepts to life and who are revisited throughout the book to illustrate key strategies to address scary thoughts.
