Dr. Diana Barnes, Psy. D., LMFT, PMH-C, Survivor
Sherman Oaks, 91423
In 1992, out of grad school and completing my hours towards licensure, I gave birth to my daughter and spent the next three years battling life-threatening postpartum depression. Despite my training as a therapist, I had never heard the term “postpartum depression” in graduate school. I was never assessed for risk during a complicated pregnancy, and was never properly diagnosed by the mental health professionals I sought out for help. Three years of suffering was far longer than I ever should have endured. Today, with a clinician trained in perinatal mental illness, three years would be reduced to several months.
Upon the heels of my recovery, it was clear there were no systems of care, few social supports, and almost no properly trained providers in what has become a critical subspecialty of women’s mental health. That realization shaped the course of my career.
For over 30 years, women’s reproductive mental health has been my area of specialization. I am a past president of Postpartum Support International and chair of the International Marce Society’s Special Interest Group on Forensics and Perinatal Illness. I have served as a subject matter expert and consultant on more than 100 cases involving women criminally charged due to undiagnosed and untreated perinatal mental illness– many serving years, even life sentences. The majority of these outcomes are preventable; proper screening and training saves lives.
