“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”
I provide family and individual psychotherapy to folks struggling with birth trauma, fertility issues, miscarriage, perinatal issues, postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, endometriosis, maternal grief and wounding, motherless daughters, autoimmune disorders, unexplained pain and chronic pain.
A Focus on Women’s Issues
In my practice, I operate from a feminist, womanist, and ecofeminist social justice perspective and framework in all areas of my work. I use this framework to center an in-depth understanding of women and their lives. I examine the gender roles and expectations placed on women that contribute to mood, personality disorders, as well as body image and eating disorders. My approach centers on women through the years and life transitions of womanhood. I address the impossible demands of family, work, and life balance.
Pregnancy
Management of mental health during pregnancy is of paramount importance. I work with patients during the perinatal period. Inadequate support and treatment during these times carries great risks to parent and child. I will work with you, your immediate support system, and your physicians to understand your experience and your medical needs while also prioritizing those of your child. Treatment centers you from an anti-oppressive framework, we will work to create collaborative solutions in the face of complicated and continually evolving circumstances.
Post-Partum
Women face myriad stressors and mental health challenges during the postpartum period. Women are sent home with no resources, often having experienced birth trauma without adequate support and are expected to care for someone else. The postpartum period can be so lonely and isolating when the expectation is that a parent should be overjoyed. Preexisting mental health challenges, emotional overwhelm, and most often little to no sleep contributes to postpartum depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Enlisting an expert reproductive psychotherapist, a family/friends support system, and medical team approach can help resource you during this overwhelming experience of parenthood.
Neurodiversity, Disability, Chronic Illness and Pain
I operate from a disability justice perspective in all areas of my work. Too often girls and women are missed and are not given what they need to succeed. Women and girls are not recognized as neurodiverse, and this can lead to trauma and misdiagnosis. Too many women suffer from poorly understood conditions like endometriosis, PCOS, fibromyalgia and so many others. Women do not get the treatment they need, and their pain is dismissed or missed entirely. Pain is not managed and certainly not treated. Having been left with unexplained symptoms and pain, enlisting the support of a mental health professional can help one make sense of medical issues that are often confusing and overwhelming.
Academic Focus
Lief is a professor in the Psychology Department at Sarah Lawrence College in the undergraduate program. She is also a professor at Smith School for Social Work, as well as a Practicum Faculty Advisor.