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`It's a Woman's Cry for Help': A Relational Perspective on Postnatal Depression

Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh

The two most influential bodies of work on postnatal depression are studies informed by the medical model and feminist analyses. This article begins by reviewing medical and feminist theories, highlighting their contributions to our understanding of postnatal depression as well as their limitations. In particular, clinical studies have focused on the individual mother and her circumstances, while feminist theories have emphasized the sociopolitical context at the expense of the individual. This article argues that a relational approach, which takes `relationship' as a unit of analysis, and explores women's feelings in terms of their relationships to themselves, their interpersonal relationships, and their varying relationships to cultural and structural opportunities and constraints, provides a fruitful way of understanding postnatal depression. The article discusses a qualitative study of 18 women's experiences which aimed to develop such an understanding of postnatal depression. Drawing on feminist and relational methodology and theory, the study sought to explore and prioritize women's own understandings and accounts of their experiences; elucidate the processes through which the women became depressed; and understand postnatal depression in terms of the similarities and differences between the women and their lives.

Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 3, 325-355 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/0959353598083006


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