Maternal and perinatal mental health
Perinatal and Postpartum Psychiatry in Chesapeake, VA
Depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and relapse of a known condition are common during pregnancy and the year after birth, and they are among the most treatable problems in psychiatry when someone takes the time to evaluate them properly.
South Chesapeake Psychiatry provides 60-minute psychiatric evaluations and ongoing medication management for women planning a pregnancy, pregnant, or postpartum, and for their partners, in Chesapeake and by secure video across Virginia.
This page is part of our Women's Mental Health care, which also covers PMDD and the mood, sleep, and focus changes of perimenopause.
- 60 minutesInitial evaluation
- VirtualAcross Virginia
- CoordinatedWith your OB & therapist
- Self-pay$300 initial visit
What we treat
Psychiatric Care Across Pregnancy, Postpartum, and Beyond
The perinatal period, from planning a pregnancy through the first year after birth, carries the highest lifetime risk of a new or recurrent psychiatric illness for many women. It is also the period in which people are most often told to just wait it out. South Chesapeake Psychiatry provides evaluation and medication management for adults in Chesapeake and across Virginia who are:
- Planning a pregnancy and wondering whether to continue, change, or stop a psychiatric medication
- Pregnant and experiencing depression, anxiety, panic, or a return of symptoms after stopping medication
- In the postpartum year with depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, rage, insomnia beyond what the baby explains, or a sense of not being themselves
- Managing bipolar disorder or another serious mental illness through pregnancy and after delivery, where relapse risk is high and planning matters
- Grieving a miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss
- Partners and fathers whose own mood has collapsed in the first year
We do not provide obstetric care or psychotherapy. We work alongside your OB, midwife, pediatrician, lactation consultant, and therapist so that the psychiatric plan and the medical plan agree with each other.
Who you will see
Clinicians With Perinatal Experience
Alysha Cunningham, MSN, PMHNP-BC, spent five years as a neonatal intensive care nurse before training as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Duke. She saw, up close, what a traumatic birth and a NICU stay do to parents, and perinatal and postpartum mental health became one of her clinical focuses. Amanda Snow, MSN, PMHNP-BC, brings twenty-five years in mental health and leads our hormone evaluations. Justin Ray, MSN, PMHNP-BC, founded the practice and has written about esketamine and the prevention of postpartum depression.
How we work
Decisions Made With Real Data, Not Fear
Perinatal psychiatry is a field full of reflexive advice: stop everything, or never stop anything. Neither is medicine. The evaluation takes 60 minutes, and much of it is spent on the actual risk-benefit picture for you: how severe your illness has been, what has happened when you stopped medication before, what the evidence says about the specific medication in pregnancy and lactation, and what you and your partner want.
Some things we discuss routinely:
- Which antidepressants have the longest safety record in pregnancy and breastfeeding, and which we generally avoid
- Why untreated depression and anxiety carry their own risks for the pregnancy, the birth, and the baby's first year
- Relapse planning for bipolar disorder, including what happens in the days after delivery when risk is highest
- Zuranolone (Zurzuvae), the first oral medication approved specifically for postpartum depression, and who it is and is not right for
- Sleep protection as a treatment, not a luxury, and how to arrange it realistically with a newborn
- When to involve TRIP for SPRAVATO® in severe or treatment-resistant postpartum depression
When it cannot wait
Emergencies and Same-Week Care
Postpartum psychosis, thoughts of ending your life, or thoughts of harming your baby that you feel you might act on are emergencies. Call 911, go to the nearest emergency department, or call or text 988. Our office is not an emergency service.
For everything short of an emergency, we try to see perinatal clients quickly, because a month is a long time in a newborn's life and in a mother's. Virtual visits are available across Virginia, which matters when leaving the house with an infant feels impossible. The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, 1-833-852-6262, is available around the clock for free, confidential support.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Perinatal Psychiatric Care
Can I take antidepressants while pregnant or breastfeeding?
Often, yes, and for many women the risks of untreated depression or anxiety to both mother and baby outweigh the risks of well-studied medications. The right answer depends on the specific medication, your history, and your stage of pregnancy or nursing. We walk through the actual data with you, and we coordinate with your OB or midwife.
What is the difference between the baby blues and postpartum depression?
The baby blues are tearfulness, mood swings, and feeling overwhelmed in the first two weeks after birth; they affect most new mothers and resolve on their own. Postpartum depression lasts longer than two weeks, is more severe, and interferes with caring for yourself or your baby. If you are not sure which you have, that is reason enough to be evaluated.
What is postpartum psychosis, and what should I do if I think it is happening?
Postpartum psychosis is a rare psychiatric emergency, usually in the first two weeks after birth, involving confusion, paranoia, hallucinations, rapid mood swings, or beliefs that seem strange to the people around you. It requires immediate care. Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department; do not wait for an outpatient appointment.
Do you treat anxiety and OCD symptoms after birth, not just depression?
Yes. Postpartum anxiety and intrusive, unwanted thoughts about harm coming to the baby are extremely common and often more distressing than low mood. They are treatable, and having an intrusive thought is not the same as wanting to act on it.
Do you see partners and fathers?
Yes. Roughly one in ten new fathers experiences depression in the first year, and partners of women with postpartum depression are at higher risk themselves. We evaluate and treat adults regardless of which parent they are.
Take the next step
Schedule a Perinatal or Postpartum Evaluation
Whether you are planning a pregnancy on medication, struggling in the third trimester, or six months postpartum and still not yourself, an evaluation gives you a clear plan instead of a guess.
South Chesapeake Psychiatry offers 60-minute initial evaluations, $300 self-pay, in Chesapeake and by secure video across Virginia.
