This book chronicles such an important subject--post partum psychosis as well as the way the medical system treats women of color. I can't think of another book that has approached this subject matter with such honesty and scrutiny. A must read for medical humanities classes or gender studies or sociology. Such essential knowledge to be gained here.

Brave and raw! This is a powerful account of a complex diagnosis. I cringed reading it because the story is so emotional. I applaud Alvi for bringing this book into the world and I hope it reaches many. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Aaisha Ana’s memoir of her two experiences with post partum psychosis, the first after the birth of her daughter, Lina, when she was expecting a busy, but full life filled with snuggles, breastfeeding and learning to live as a family of three. What she got instead was voices in her head, depression and hallucinations, but she eventually recovered.

Several years later she got pregnant again. She lost the baby. However, after the miscarriage the postpartum psychosis returned, only much worse. She heard voices urging her to harm Lina and others. She considered suicide. She sought medical help multiple times but was turned away. By relating her own story the author discussed the issue of post partum psychosis and the ways it is often misunderstood and undertreated, especially in women of color.

Between sixty to eighty percent of women who deliver children report having the “baby blues” after delivery, a sense of unhappiness or dissatisfaction in the two weeks following childbirth. About one in five women will suffer from a post partum mood disorder, there are several, including post partum depression and post partum OCD. (post partum depression in one in seven). However, one or two in a thousand women will have full on post partum psychosis, like Andrea Yates, the mother in Texas who drowned her five children. These women are not truly psychotic, their problems will, eventually, resolve, with proper treatment, but they, and their children are at extreme risk.

It is extremely important that these women not feel afraid or ashamed. They desperately need help. And “stigma is tricky - it doesn’t always look or feel like judgment; sometimes it feels like we’re being reassuring (“you’re not that kind of mom”), girding our fear (“post partum psychosis is very rare…”),. These women need help, not reassurance that they are OK when they are not.

The two main hallmarks of psychosis versus depression are hallucinations and delusions. If those are present, do not wait. Do not leave the person alone or with the child alone. And get help. Ten percent of women suffering from post partum psychosis suicide or kill their infants. It isn’t common, but when it happens it is so serious and often doctors don’t recognize what they are seeing and/or patients are not totally honest about what is occurring.

I learned so much reading this. It was really well done and I hope it reaches the right people.