When the Joy of the Mother is Missing – An Organic Perspective on Postpartum Depression

An adaptive lens widens the exploration of postpartum depression to include
the consideration of a mother’s own primal history and its resurgence through the initiation of childbirth, her
preparedness to thus “meet herself” and be seen by her baby, her experience of labor, birth, and the
postpartum period; implications for a healthy attachment with her child and thus that child’s lifelong
development; and a call to recognize postpartum non-separation as an essential protective factor against
postpartum depression. KEY WORDS: Postpartum depression, attachment, mirroring, infant mental health,
interpersonal neurobiology, postpartum separation, malattachment, disconnection, anhedonia, depression,
parenting, motherhood, mothering, childbirth.