Dr Edna Lekgabe - New Baby… New Brain… Matrescence.
4/26/20261 hr 35 min
According to perinatal and reproductive psychiatrist Dr Edna Lekgabe, matrescence is the motherhood equivalent of adolescence. Puberty 2.0, if you will.
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Joining us in the academy of imperfection, Dr Edna explores the cataclysmic identity shift women undergo during motherhood, and how partners can best support them.
Exploring the impacts of mastrescence with Hugh, Ryan and Josh, Dr Edna breaks down the difference between matrescence, anxiety and depression, and why mental illness is the number one pregnancy complication.
We’re talking hormonal changes, physiological changes, sociological changes that are SO significant, you can see them in brain scans. Matrescence is messy, a developmental earthquake, and it’s not talked about nearly enough.
This episode might just break the internet (and your heart) wide open.
0:00 – Introducing Hugh’s perinatal psychiatrist
7:30 – Matrescence? Huh?
21:14 – The biology of baby brain
34:10 – The difference between matrescence and depression
40:46 – Reasonable worry vs anxiety disorder
47:40 – The emergence of neurodivergence
54:04 – Post-natal depression
1:00:04 – Matrescence after loss
1:05:50 – Getting to know a brand new person
1:11:19 – Can women have it all?
1:18:32 – On a societal scale
1:26:12 – The paternal earthquake
If you want to watch this full episode on YouTube, follow this link -
🫖 Other Imperfect’s episodes mentioned in this episode
- Bron Lewis - Is It Me or Postnatal Anxiety? - https://bit.ly/4vHn1eh
📖 Things to read
- Being Female: Reproduction, Power and Change, by Dana Raphael - https://bit.ly/48jC5EO
- The Birth of a Mother, New York Times, by Alexandra Sacks - https://bit.ly/3OjB9tp
- Men at Work: Australia’s Parenthood Trap, Quarterly Essay, by Annabel Crabb - https://bit.ly/4mLE8Hx
🎧Things to listen to
- Perinatal OCD: When ‘the happiest time of your life’ turns dark - https://bit.ly/48lx8eK
📺 Things to watch
- Alexandra Sacks TEDTalk on Matrescence - https://bit.ly/4tsBcCt
💻Things to check out
- Yerkes-Dodson Law: Stress Level - https://bit.ly/4cOT2IO
- peanut x Tommee Tippee campaign on matrescence - https://bit.ly/4mQDicU
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The Imperfects is not a licensed mental health service and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice, treatment or assessment. The advice given in this episode is general in nature, but if you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional, or call lifeline on 13 11 14.
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Clips
Showing 10 of 13Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRyan Shelton· Host0:00
What is matrescence?
Edna Lekgabe· Guest0:01
Matrescence is the motherhood equivalent of adolescence.
Ryan Shelton· Host0:06
Mm.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest0:06
It's like puberty 2.0. I call it a developmental earthquake, and no one else can feel it.
Hugh van Cuylenburg· Host0:12
Dr. Edna Lekabe specializes in perinatal and reproductive psychiatry. In this episode, Dr. Edna will guide us through the concept of matrescence, what it is, and how we can support women going through it, as well as mental illness.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest0:25
There's this thing that happens for women, their identity shifts. Something moves, something changes in a woman. She's not the same. Just like the adolescent, the kid is no longer there, you're now an adult. Women are becoming something. There's this pull to focus on this baby to keep it alive, but then there's this push on the other side, which is my old self. I need to sleep. I need to eat.
Ryan Shelton· Host0:49
Mm.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest0:49
I need to go out. And that's matrescence. I do not give a fuck. I-D-G-A-F is in the dictionary.
Ryan Shelton· Host0:57
Mm.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest0:57
Matrescence isn't.
Ryan Shelton· Host0:58
Whoa.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest0:59
How do we not have it in our phones, have it in our dictionaries? Why are we not talking about it? There's this thing called synaptic pruning.
Ryan Shelton· Host1:08
Is this what would be colloquially known as baby brain?
Edna Lekgabe· Guest1:10
Yeah. It's like a renovation happening in there. Everything on the outside looks the same.
Ryan Shelton· Host1:14
Mm.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest1:14
Could you tell when Penny was renovating inside her brain?
Hugh van Cuylenburg· Host1:17
There were signs.
Ryan Shelton· Host1:18
[laughs] Geez, you're on shaky ground there.
Edna Lekgabe· Guest1:23
[laughs] [laughs] [laughs] Um- I'm so glad I wasn't asked that question.