Historical Context
Some major figures in history that began to discover what we now know as postpartum mental illness...
Hippocrates
This ancient Greek physician hypothesized that these symptoms were a result of suppressed puerperal (relating to the approximately six week period a mother’s organs return to their position of prepregnancy) discharge, complications in the direction of breast milk in the body, or an influx of blood to the breasts. He later divided these symptoms into three categories: “insanity of pregnancy,” “puerperal insanity,” and “insanity of lactation.”
Trotula
As a revolutionary female physician, she updated Hippocrates theory in the 13th century. She stated that postpartum mental illness was caused by excess moisture in the body after birth: “If the womb is too moist, the brain is filled with water, and the moisture running over the eyes, compels them to involuntarily shed tears,” she wrote in her book Passionibus Mulierum Curandorum (The Diseases of Women).
Esquirol
This French psychiatrist formally identified the increased risk of mental illness in new mothers in 1845. However, he falsely believed that it was caused by a woman's failure or resistance to nursing.
Through today, postpartum mental illness is extremely misunderstood. This has led to some severe consequences, dating back to hundreds of years ago
Mary Clements Osgood's Story
Mary Clements Osgood, was the mother of twelve children at the time of her arrest during the 1692-93 Salem Witch Trials. During her forced confession, Osgood claimed that she was in “a melancholy state and condition” following the birth of her twelfth child. Her situation compelled her to take long walks in her orchard, where she once saw a cat. At this time, she was diverted from praying to God and instead worshiped the devil, who appeared to her and coerced her into becoming a witch. Because Osgood’s confession describes her postpartum state as a delicate one, and susceptible to the devil, it can be inferred that the mental health troubles experienced during this time were not something that was viewed positively or spoken about frequently. From Ancient societies to the present, women’s health problems have been misattributed and have gone undiagnosed, rooted in the misconception that women do not feel pain equally as men. In fact, the term “hysteria”, which refers to unmanageable emotional outbursts, comes from the Ancient Greek word for uterus.
What about the condition's medical understanding now?
Postpartum depression was not even recognized by the psychiatric community until 1944 when its description was published in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Even now, the Manual identifies PPD as depression onset in the first four weeks post birth, while experts argue screenings should continue for up to a year past the delivery date.