‘Pregnancy and Childbirth’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life

Is postnatal depression a label slapped onto the discomfort caused by the sudden change in a woman’s life when she has a baby, or is it a useful diagnostic category covering many and varied experiences, all of which can be significantly helped by treatment?

“Mommies who drink: Sex, Drugs and other Distant Memories of an Ordinary Mom” reveals just how judgmental we can be can be when it comes to motherhood, how deeply the expectations run that women transform overnight when they become mothers, losing not only half their brains but all their previous adult tastes, becoming wholesome and somewhat childlike themselves.

A study which has been all over the press reports research findings from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, that children with one particular version of a particular gene scored higher in IQ tests, between the ages of five and thirteen, if they had been breastfed.

So, stress before and during pregnancy affects not only the gender of the baby but their future health and, so we are told, their intelligence. Not too much pressure, then!

Warning signs of postpartum depression include constant fatigue, feelings of inadequacy as a parent, lack of joy in life, withdrawal from family and friends, excessive concern for the baby, or thoughts of hurting the infant. Is it impossible not to feel some of these things?