Carry My Strength (A Parent's Guide to Growing and Thriving Alongside Your Child)

A psychiatrist-parent's guide to understanding your emotions and raising resilient children

Nearly one in five children has a behavioral or mental health diagnosis, and 40% of mothers miss their postpartum visit, along with critical screening. Carry My Strength: A Parent's Guide to Growing and Thriving Alongside Your Child, written by double board-certified child and adult psychiatrist Debbie Raphael, M.D., decodes the hidden psychological forces shaping early parenthood, helping parents understand their own emotional patterns and build stronger connections with their children.

Through vivid vignettes from her own first years as a mother—documented while simultaneously training in child psychiatry—Raphael translates clinical concepts like reflective functioning, secure attachment, mentalization, and distress tolerance into relatable, actionable guidance. Parents learn how their internal histories and stress responses shape their child's developing mind, and how to interrupt intergenerational cycles of trauma while cultivating resilience and emotional regulation.

Readers will also find:

• Research-based strategies for recognizing and managing postpartum mood challenges, parental ambivalence, and hidden stress during early childhood
• Guidance on building reflective capacity—the skill that predicts healthier emotional outcomes for both parent and child
• Tools for regulating your nervous system during high-stress parenting moments, grounded in behavioral science
• An exploration of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and practical approaches for breaking intergenerational patterns of trauma and adversity
• A dual clinician-and-parent perspective that connects complex developmental research to everyday family life

Written for new and expecting parents—particularly those navigating early life adversity, trauma histories, or postpartum emotional challenges—Carry My Strength is equally valuable for pediatricians, therapists, doulas, and early educators who support families through the demanding, formative years of early parenthood.

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