An Autoethnographic Examination of Postpartum Depression

The Article in Brief

An Autoethnographic Examination of Postpartum Depression

Tara L. Frankhouser , and colleagues

Background A physician shares her experience with post-partum depression in a qualitative study using autoethnography (a method of self-reflection and analysis of personal and cultural experiences).

What This Study Found After the birth of her first child, the author found that the reality of post-partum depression was much different than what she thought as a physician. She identifies issues that shape the experience of postpartum depression including standards of intensive mothering, feelings of guilt, and the stigma of mental illness. The author encourages physicians to let patients know that postpartum depression does not define them, that there is healing ahead, and that, as her story exemplifies, they are not alone.