The Darkest Days of My Life

Stories of Postpartum Depression

Author: Natasha S. Mauthner
ISBN: 9780674007611

Having a baby is surely one of the pinnacle events of a woman's life, full of joy, serenity, and contentment--or so society tells a new mother, who thus finds herself ill-prepared for the exhaustion, boredom, and isolation that can follow childbirth. The resulting depression--how it is experienced, and how it might be relieved--is the subject of Natasha Mauthner's insightful and compassionate book, which recounts the stories of new mothers caught between a cultural ideal and a far more complex reality.In Mauthner's interviews with thirty-five new mothers in Britain and America, we see how women contend with images of motherhood as a state of bliss for everyone but themselves. The British women tend to view their depression as a personal failure of strength; American women, as a result of hormonal fluctuation. But all vividly describe a similar state of paralysis and loneliness, with alternating love, resentment, and guilt toward their babies.Most usefully, these women reveal the positi

Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publish Date: 2002

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Women, Health & Fitness / Pregnancy & Childbirth, Psychology / Mental Health, Self-Help / Mood Disorders / Depression

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Parenting)