Dr. Jessica Zucker is a well-known psychologist who specializes in women’s reproductive and maternal mental health, the founder of the ‘I Had a Miscarriage’ campaign, and a writer. She practiced clinically for years before her own 16-week miscarriage offered her a new perspective on the many aspects of loss and how it touches every part of a woman’s life.
During our conversation, Dr. Zucker shares the raw details of her loss, how getting intimate with death changed her and made her more emotionally available to her patients, why she created the ‘I Had a Miscarriage’ campaign and her fears about getting pregnant again.
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and we hope that this powerful conversation helps create more space and openness between those who have experienced loss and those who haven’t. We believe that open dialogue in our culture is rare but so needed – especially in this incredibly misunderstood arena.
In This Episode:
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How modern psychology was originally designed for men as a moral development tool
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How mental health professionals can offer assistance to others even if they haven’t had a similar experience
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The physical realities of a pregnancy loss
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How she considers her loss an unforeseeable gift
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Why some women choose not to share their stories of loss
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How the trauma of loss appears in many different areas of a woman’s life
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What it’s like to have an unmedicated D&C procedure
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Discussing psychologists’ ability to apply their knowledge to themselves
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The dangers of walking on eggshells when discussing pregnancy loss
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If the ‘12-week rule’ is appropriate advice for doctors to relay
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How to get a free 1-month trial of guided meditations through Expectful
Show Notes:
Dr. Jessica Zucker
Dr. Jessica Zucker Shop
@Ihadamiscarriage on Instagram
Expectful — 1 Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members
All photographs by @elliana_allon
About Our Guest:
Dr. Jessica Zucker is a Los Angeles-based psychologist and writer specializing in women’s reproductive and maternal mental health. Jessica specialized in this field long before experiencing a second trimester miscarriage firsthand.
Jessica primarily works with women struggling with fertility, pregnancy ambivalence, pregnancy loss, during transitions in motherhood, prenatal and postpartum adjustments, perinatal and postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, pregnancy and postpartum body image concerns, and in the midst of relationship challenges after the loss or birth of a child.
She’s the creator of the #IHadAMiscarriage campaign. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, among others. Her first book is due out in Fall 2020.
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