Somebody please wake me up. I just watched Discovery Health’s “Postpartum Nightmares”Baby Week show. I think maybe I was having a bad dream.
First, I’ll give you the positives. Might as well start out being nice, right?
What Was Good
I appreciate the courage and honesty of the three women featured on the show: Shelley Ash, Alisa Bowman and Tarah Mathews. Each was very open about what happened to them and presented their experiences in a clear and compelling way. At the end of each of their segments, it was great to see how they had recovered and were enjoying motherhood.
I was also glad the producers reached out to professionals who knew what they were talking about in terms of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, including Shoshanna Bennett and Pec Indman. I’m sure they were probably edited to death, but still did a great job imparting key points and helping people understand that postpartum depression and anxiety are fairly common among new mothers.
Finally, the stories portrayed some of the real risk factors that exist for new moms — the things that increase the likelihood of someone getting PPD or a related illness– including having a baby go to the NICU, having a difficult birth, lack of adequate social support in caring for the baby and breastfeeding problems. I also liked the fact that they showed how different mothers may experience very different symptoms, from rage to trouble sleeping to panic attacks.
What Was NOT Good
Serious problem #1: Oh, Discovery Health. Is it that you have no choice? In order to get viewers, must you attempt to turn something educational into “shock and awe”? I kid you not when I say they used horror movie editing and images. Quick cuts. Dark rooms. Menacing music. The empty rocking chair theme. The one image that set me to shouting at the TV was in the first segment, on Shelley Ash, where they show the actress portraying Shelly cooking in the kitchen and they zoom in, lingering WAY TOO LONG, on the gleaming, sharp, serrated knife she’s using to cut vegetables. Really??!! Nice outrageous stereotype.
Serious problem #2: The first segment they do right out of the chute was on postpartum psychosis. That makes sense, of course, since it’s the illness most people with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders get. Wait a minute … no it isn’t! But it is the most sensational of all the illnesses because of the increased potential for harm, so let’s make sure to scare the bejeezus out of every pregnant mother watching. I saw Twitter tweets the following morning with women questioning whether they should ever have children based on what they saw. Is that what we want, or do we want people to know that these illnesses exist and are fully treatable?
Serious problem #3: With several of the segments, it was hard to tell which illness the mother was suffering. Postpartum anxiety? Postpartum depression? Postpartum OCD? Postpartum psychosis? All of the above? Two out of the three women, though, seriously considered harming their baby. I think viewers could have walked away from this thinking every new mother with a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder is potentially murderous. All together now people: They aren’t. This doesn’t mean these illnesses are not serious, but could we please not overdo it? This just adds to the stigma we are working so hard to eliminate.
I think my husband summed the show up best: the words spoken by the mothers and professionals (calm, informative, balanced, open) did not mesh in any way with the majority of audio and video used (scary, looming, haunting, creepy).
Why am I, sadly, not surprised?
AMEN Sista !! Could not believe it. I had to stop watching it as soon as they zoomed in on the knife. What a diservice Discovery Health has done. My husband has the same assessment that your husband had. They really dropped the ball on this one.
I don't get the discovery channel, so was unable to watch, but what frightens me is that most people won't see the arguments you pose here… at least not those most likely to perpetuate the stereotypes. The segment title alone seems more designed for ratings than truth. Sad; very, very sad.
Seriously??? How very disappointing…
I saw a bit of it today, and honestly I couldn't even watch it all. It just made me so sad to watch, it seemed it's going to make the whole stigma a lot a lot worse!
Hi,
Are there any women in the Los Angeles or nearby areas who would be interested in sharing their story of recovery of postpartum psychosis? We are a group of USC social workers currently enrolled in a documentary class in which we are exploring the severity of Postpartum Psychosis. We would like bring awareness to both the general public and our social work colleagues at USC about a subject that is rarely spoken about. Through our documentary we would like to combat the stigma of Postpartum Psychosis and offer tools to help families and friends of women that may experience or may be experiencing PPP. The films that are developed in this class are shown in a film festival held at the school in the month of May.
We are currently looking for women who have suffered from Postpartum Psychosis that would be open to sharing their story of resilience. In sharing your story we would like to combat the stigma of mental health and educate others about a mental health issue that is rarely talked about. It is understandable that you may want limit the exposure of your experiences due to your current endeavors. My colleagues and I would do anything to make you comfortable. We could interview you off camera, manipulate the lights to show only your profile, or just tape record our interview. Your comfort is of the upmost importance to us and we are prepared to accommodate to your needs.
If you are at all interested or have any questions please email me! I appreciate you taking the time to help us with a topic that can be so sensitive yet so important.
(Lunch and copy of film will be provided)
towler@usc.edu
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Hi, I found your site and this post because I have a google alert on my name. I was one of the women in the show. I agreed to do it because, for so many years, I felt so very alone. I was afraid to talk about what I'd gone through, and even afraid to admit it to myself. But once I started talking about it, I found so many other women who'd gone through similar things and who also were alone and afraid to talk. I came away from that believing that this stigma that you mention is mostly a result of our internalized feelings of shame and failure. Whenever I've talked about these issues openly, not a single person has looked down upon me. I totally understand what you mean about the sensationalized aspects of the show. Believe me, I cringed when I saw the reenactments. And why not use a nice puffy nursing rocking chair rather than that white one that no one really owns?
In the end, though, I do believe the show did offer a service. I've heard from many women who saw it and who thanked me for allowing them to feel normal. I think it's great that you have this site here so women can gather and get support about this condition. But the unfortunate fact of the matter is that this site doesn't reach enough women. There are still plenty out there who are suffering–still feeling shameful, still feeling alone, still too scared to talk about it. I have to say, the one good thing about that show is that nearly everyone seems to watch it. They play that channel in hospitals. My sister in law saw the show right after giving birth, and she didn't even know I was going to be on it. (I didn't tell her about it because she was giving birth to twins and I didn't want to ruin her moment by announcing, "Hey! By the way, I'm going to be on national TV!"
Anyway, I just wanted to share these thoughts. I think we can all do a lot more good if we stop sweating the small details and just keep talking about this. The more open we are, the less stigma there is. Things only get stigmatized when people keep them hush hush.
I planned to watch/tape this show but then realized I did not have Discovery Health so I cannot speak from my own experience viewing this. But I must say I was afraid of this type of presentation because there was a very sensationalized description that comes up when you search the guide on the TV!
I am proud and grateful to the survivors who shared their stories, but very disappointed at the missed opportunity to normalize rather than sensationalize and perpetuate generalizations.
Alisa,
I think the mothers in the show, including you, did a great job and I am glad that, as you suggest, there are lots of different ways for women to learn about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. My concern is only with how Discovery Health packaged it. Most of the people I know who are advocates felt that it was sensationalized needlessly. We just wish that wasn't done, because it does add to the stigma. At the same time, I'm sure there are people who were helped by the show. Thank you, again, for your courage!
I do not get discovery so I was unable to watch it, but I want to give the women who spoke about their experience a big shout out because that is awesome and takes a lot of courage!!
Alisa,
Thank you for your courage in going on television to tell your story! You are completely right. The only way we can conquer stigma is by making sure as many people talk about it (which normalizes a woman's PPD experience) in day-to-day conversations, television (to make sure it reaches a broader audience), etc.
Best,
Ivy
I am currently suffering (and slowly recovering!) from postpartum anxiety and although I didn't actually watch the show, the description of such a program sounds sounds absolutely terrifying. My thanks to the chainsaw wielding Discovery channel. Nothing like Postpartum Nightmares on Elm Street to give me the warm fuzzies!
It would be nice to be able to provide Discovery Health Channel with our feedback to ensure they continue to show educational programs, while at the same time, not scaring people and contributing to the stigma that doesn't help and we're trying so hard to fight. Unfortunately, there is no place on their website that we can submit any feedback.
Katherine- I agree with you 100%. Very well said-
Pec
Actually Ivy, I did hear from one of their PR people who read my "review" and said she shared it with the show's executive producer and director of programming. Not sure what impact that will have, if any, but it was nice to hear back from them.