---
title: "I don't feel like myself · Gentle Space"
description: "Identity shifts, flatness, intrusive thoughts."
url: "https://gentlespace.net/articles/pathway/dont-feel-like-myself"
pathway: "dont-feel-like-myself"
articleCount: 3
---

# I don't feel like myself

Identity shifts, flatness, intrusive thoughts.

- [Not bonding the way you expected — you're not a bad parent](https://gentlespace.net/articles/not-bonding-the-way-you-expected.md) — There's a story told about the moment a parent first holds their baby. In this story, something fundamental shifts. A rush of love, profound and immediate. A feeling of recognition, of completion.
- [You are becoming someone new](https://gentlespace.net/articles/you-are-becoming-someone-new.md) — There is a word — not widely known, but slowly finding its way into the conversation — for the psychological transformation a person undergoes when they become a parent. It's called matrescence.
- [Baby blues or something more? How to tell the difference](https://gentlespace.net/articles/baby-blues-or-something-more.md) — In the first week or two after birth, many new parents experience a wave of emotion that seems to arrive from nowhere. Tears at small things. A sense of being overwhelmed.

## If things feel very dark right now

If things feel very dark right now, you don't have to wait. These lines are free and confidential.

- **Samaritans** — 116 123 — Free, confidential, 24/7.
- **PANDAS Foundation** — pandasfoundation.org.uk — Perinatal mental health support, via WhatsApp and callback.
- **CALM** — 0800 58 58 58 — Support for anyone in crisis.