The practice, led by Dr. Werner Stadlmayr (FMH gynecology and obstetrics, as well as FA interdisciplinary focus on psychosocial & psychosomatic medicine), offers the services listed below.
Our philosophy
Pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period are often a time of successful and joyful experiences in the development of a woman, her relationship, and her family. We want to encourage you in this experience of "being with child": you should be able to experience this positive development in a self-determined way. YOUR "nature" is our guide. We want to provide you with a framework that will enable you to engage intensively with your inner and outer processes.
YOUR NATURE AS A GUIDE
BEING IN GOOD HOPE IN A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT
The developments during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period are revolutionary and represent a challenge for women on various levels that should not be underestimated. These include intense physical processes with their effects on the experience of one's own body, as well as the integration of the child before and after birth with the various processes of bonding and letting go.
Our basis
We are guided (I) by depth psychological and attachment theory concepts of impending motherhood and fatherhood; furthermore, we integrate (II) knowledge about relationship processes between the (expectant) mother and her child (dyad) as well as in the (developing) triangle between father, mother, and child (triad); In addition, (III) we incorporate body-oriented experiential processes, as known from body-oriented psychotherapy (e.g., according to G. Downing).
Furthermore, we refer (IV) to the model of living systems (including their system levels and their communication with each other), as presented in the
theory of human medicine (
Th. v. Uexküll, W. Wesiack); closely related to this is the idea of the importance of a helpful environment.
In addition, we (V) use the findings that evidence-based medicine (on which modern medicine relies) has gained on the basis of a scientific-objectivist approach. While the Living Systems model sees humans as beings who communicate with themselves and their environment, with whom one can empathize in the sense of a "relationship partner," , the model of evidence-based medicine understands humans as a system in which one can "intervene" from the position of an "observer" on the basis of physical and chemical models.
Our approach
We apply both approaches, i.e., the communication-basedand the intervention-oriented, in order to give space to and support the "nature" of women in their OWN, i.e., individual development during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.
"Nature" here refers to the idea that living systems – biological-physical & psychosocial – are STIMULABLE, and that the "nature" of the pregnant woman / woman in labor / woman in childbed leads to her processes SELF-ORGANIZING. In this sense, we support you in your self-organizing health and healing processes during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period; building on this, we respond to your concerns and fears in an encouraging manner.
Where the processes of stimulation and self-organization are threatened, we apply intensive COMMUNICATIVE MEASURES and, where these are insufficient, INTERVENTIONS (such as cesarean section or epidural anesthesia). From this perspective, interventions are therefore more of a "second or last resort" for us, in contrast to approaches that attach no or little importance to natural, self-organizing processes and therefore tend to use interventions as a "first resort."
We want to carefully weigh up the opportunities and risks of "nature" for the physical and mental health of mother and child; we also take into account a woman's individual life history and current circumstances and support her if, after careful consideration, the decision to avoid the physical and psychological processes of a vaginal birth by means of a cesarean section proves to be sensible or necessary.
Our claim
We would like to encourage you to PERCEIVE and REFLECT on your own processes, i.e., to "feel" and "think" about them, and to bring them into the obstetric care situation; where necessary and desired, we also offer you a consultation hour for therapeutic discussions.
We hold ourselves to the standard of continually reflecting on our own actions, both communication-based and intervention-oriented. Ideally, we strive to view each woman and each couple as UNIQUE, i.e., as "individual," and to tailor our care accordingly.
REFLECT & PERCEIVE
Ideas about (expectant) motherhood/fatherhood and parenthood, as well as expectations about childbirth and the postpartum period, should be addressed in the USUAL obstetric consultation, where biological processes form the starting point. We try to understand warning signs or undesirable developments, such as pain, weight changes, blood pressure fluctuations, infections, and much more, holistically on the basis of the above thoughts and models.
We therefore strive to always REFLECT on our care in the context of the tension between "biological & psychosocial" and between "communication & intervention."
INDIVIDUALITY – WOMEN, PARTNERSHIPS, AND FAMILIES
Our commitment to women and their families extends beyond pregnancy and birth to include the postpartum period lasting several months, with all the questions, problems, and crises that this time can raise. These include, for example, coping with the birth experience and the pregnancy process, integrating motherhood and the mother-child relationship, the experience of breastfeeding in the context of physical experience, autonomy, and bonding, general questions about being a woman (career, family, body, exhaustion), as well as many questions about family development, partnership, and sexuality, and much more..
POSTNATAL PERIOD, BIRTH EXPERIENCE, MOTHERHOOD, BODY EXPERIENCE
It is in the nature of the processes surrounding pregnancy, birth, and postpartum that they are woman-centered, especially due to the immediate physical involvement of the woman; however, it seems clear today that men are also affected by major internal and external upheavals in their impending fatherhood, their concern for the well-being of their partner, and their own self-image as men. It is our aim to give these processes the attention they deserve so that both partners can be a "supportive environment" for each other.
Our obstetric care
Outpatient care as part of prenatal and postnatal care.
Additional psychosocial services related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, such as for fear of vaginal birth, coping with a traumatic birth, or exhaustion and depression before and/or after childbirth, and much more.
All services complement each other in a
OBSTETRICAL & PSYCHOSOMATIC CONSULTATION
You are welcome to contact us WITHOUT having to change your gynecologist; we are also happy to advise you in the sense of a "second opinion" or to provide you with exclusive medical care during childbirth.
Our services can be usefully combined with any psychotherapy or psychiatric treatment you may already be undergoing.
In general, we prefer open communication with you and between all those involved, including obstetricians and psychotherapists/psychiatrists.
If you are unsure, perhaps a quick phone call would help?
