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Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America
A powerful look at the changing cultural understanding of postpartum depression in America.
“If you begin to feel at all depressed,” the famous pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock advised new mothers, “go to a movie, or to the beauty parlor, or to get yourself a new hat or dress.” Such was the medical expertise on postpartum depression in the postwar United States. For much of the twentieth century, postpartum depression—and, more broadly, postpartum mental illness—had not been considered a fit subject for public discussion or even psychological discourse, let alone political action. But that was about to change.
In A History of Postpartum Depression in America, Rachel Louise Moran explores the history of the naming and mainstreaming of postpartum depression. The push to define and diagnose postpartum is owed in part to the feminist women’s health movement, but it emerged as an independent grassroots force. Coalitions of maverick psychiatrists, psychologists, and women who themselves had survived substantial postpartum distress fought to legitimize and normalize women’s experiences. They emphasized that postpartum depression is an objective and real illness, even as it became politicized alongside other fraught medical and political battles over women’s health.
Based on insightful oral histories and in-depth archival research, Blue reveals a secret history of American motherhood, women’s political activism, and the rise of postpartum depression advocacy amid an often censorious conservative culture. By breaking new ground with the first book-length history of postpartum mental illness in the 20th century, Moran brings mothers’ battles with postpartum depression out of the shadows and into the light.
“If you begin to feel at all depressed,” the famous pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock advised new mothers, “go to a movie, or to the beauty parlor, or to get yourself a new hat or dress.” Such was the medical expertise on postpartum depression in the postwar United States. For much of the twentieth century, postpartum depression—and, more broadly, postpartum mental illness—had not been considered a fit subject for public discussion or even psychological discourse, let alone political action. But that was about to change.
In A History of Postpartum Depression in America, Rachel Louise Moran explores the history of the naming and mainstreaming of postpartum depression. The push to define and diagnose postpartum is owed in part to the feminist women’s health movement, but it emerged as an independent grassroots force. Coalitions of maverick psychiatrists, psychologists, and women who themselves had survived substantial postpartum distress fought to legitimize and normalize women’s experiences. They emphasized that postpartum depression is an objective and real illness, even as it became politicized alongside other fraught medical and political battles over women’s health.
Based on insightful oral histories and in-depth archival research, Blue reveals a secret history of American motherhood, women’s political activism, and the rise of postpartum depression advocacy amid an often censorious conservative culture. By breaking new ground with the first book-length history of postpartum mental illness in the 20th century, Moran brings mothers’ battles with postpartum depression out of the shadows and into the light.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2024
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243 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 10, 2025
Because this book is advertised as "a history," I expected historical epistemology--but it's more like a sociology book. Rather than being about postpartum depression per se, it is a history of the individuals who did things like found medical societies to address postpartum depression or self-help groups. Much of it is based on interviews, newspaper, and magazine coverage, backed up by little investigation of other primary sources (clinical records, firsthand narratives, medical journal articles, etc.). But even the interviews don't really let the individuals with postpartum challenges speak. Many of the interviews also seem a bit shallow. The book covers the period from the 1950s, when the "baby blues" started to be discussed in women's magazines, through the present, so that means that the most recent parts are based on things like blogs and facebook pages, and the book pays a weirdly large amount of attention to people like Brooke Shields and Marie Osmond who may have raised consciousness about postpartum depression but don't solely constitute its history.
October 30, 2025
At the end I read the following sentence: " I opt for more inclusive language. Pregnancy and postpartum depression are not wholly the domain of women"!
I understand the need to be inclusive, and which we should all consider, but any one else other than women carried children?! I find this very strange and full of self-deception.
I understand the need to be inclusive, and which we should all consider, but any one else other than women carried children?! I find this very strange and full of self-deception.
July 17, 2025
As a licensed psychologist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, I’ve spent over two decades immersed in perinatal mental health - pioneering the first fMRI study of postpartum depression (2007), leading the most extensive U.S. population-based study of severe postpartum depression (2011), and conducting the most extensive global epidemiologic investigation of PPD (2017). I also co-developed a universal screening program for perinatal mental health (2016) that has since become a national model.
Blue is one of the most powerful and necessary contributions to the field I’ve encountered. If you are an academic, a clinician, or a researcher working with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, this book is essential reading. I have no affiliation with the author, but I sincerely wish this book had existed earlier as Blue offers the kind of clarity, insight, and humanity that has long been missing from our discourse.
Blue is one of the most powerful and necessary contributions to the field I’ve encountered. If you are an academic, a clinician, or a researcher working with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, this book is essential reading. I have no affiliation with the author, but I sincerely wish this book had existed earlier as Blue offers the kind of clarity, insight, and humanity that has long been missing from our discourse.
August 25, 2025
As someone who went through a postpartum depression back in 1993, it was encouraging to see the great resources now available; however, some of the reading was fairly dry, focusing more on activism and legislation than the actual experiences of women.
July 23, 2025
It was very informative, but also very long winded.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews