POSTNATAL DEPRESSION - THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOCIAL CONTACTS BETWEEN MOTHERS

This article explores an aspect of women's experiences of postnatal de pression that has remained largely invisible within research in this s ubject area - namely, depressed mothers' social contacts with other mo thers with young children. Evidence from a recent qualitative, empiric al study of how and why some women feel depressed following childbirth indicates that the extent and nature of these relationships are criti cal to mothers' feelings of psychological and emotional well-being. Fe elings of isolation from other mothers through depressed mothers' own social withdrawal from these women were associated with the onset of t heir depression. Conversely, the mothers linked their journeys out of depression to the renewal of these relationships. The article conclude s by outlining some of the implications of these findings, both for fu rther research and for policy issues related to postnatal depression.