Real help, from women who've been there. After she gave birth, Sandra Poulin felt like crying. But they weren't happy tears-Sandra felt worthless, could hardly sleep, and had thoughts of death. Like too many mothers around the world, Sandra had no idea that this common but baffling condition had a name: postpartum depression. What kind of mother, people wonder, could feel depressed after having been so richly blessed with a baby? The answer: every kind, women from all walks of life, from all over the world, young and old. And here, in a unique collection, are their stories of battles with PPD, with intimate details about the symptoms, the struggles, and the strategies that helped them emerge victorious. Written by mothers, for mothers, this collection is an uplifting, enlightening- and perhaps even lifesaving- book.

Amy Hatkoff is a parenting educator, writer, filmmaker, and advocate and has been working with parents and children of diverse backgrounds for more than 20 years. "You Are My World" gratefully acknowledges the profoundly shaping influence that a parent�s love and attention have on a baby�s mental and emotional development.

In this provocative book, award-winning economics journalist Ann Crittenden argues that although women have been liberated, mothers have not. Drawing on hundreds of interviews around the country and the most current research in economics, history, child development, and law, she shows how mothers are systematically disadvantaged and made depent by a society that praises the labor of love but undervalues and even exploits those who perform it.

Becoming a mother is filled with the extremes of emotion--the highest highs and the lowest lows. But women are often reluctant to talk honestly about the experience for fear they'll be seen as bad mothers. With wit and candor, The Mask of Motherhood takes on the myths and the misinformation, helping women to prepare and deal with the depth of feeling that comes with the experience and perhaps most important, letting them know that many, if not most, new mothers are feeling the same way.

What is the desire to mother? How do we understand it, talk about it, and think about it? These are the questions at the heart of Maternal Desire, a groundbreaking book that gives a voice and a vocabulary to one of the most transforming and powerful experiences in women's lives. The book both explores the enjoyment and anxieties of motherhood and offers mothers in all sutuations valuable ways to think through their self-doubts and connect to their capacity for pleasure.

How to Say It(r) to Girls provides a wellspring of practical advice for parents on how to broach uncomfortable subjects with girls of all ages, or how to simply open the lines of communication. This book offers concrete words, phrases, and sample dialogues to help parents figure out what to say and how best to say it. About the Author: Nancy Gruver is the founder of the award-winning magazine by and for girls, New Moon(r): The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams. She is also a former Board Member of the National Association of Mothers' Centers.

Beyond the Blues contains the most up-to-date information about risk factors, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders in pregnancy and postpartum. Straightforward yet compassionate, it is required reading for all who work with pregnant and postpartum women, as well as those suffering from before or after the baby is born.

Women who have experience postpartum depression are understandably apprehensive about considering another pregnancy. The risk of depression after a subsequent pregnancy is significant and if not treated properly, the depression can indeed be worse. WHAT AM I THINKING provides women with the much needed support and concise information they need to proceed through this apprehensive time with confidence and less anxiety. Having this information will enable women and their partners to feel more in control of this very unpredictable journey and equally important, it will prepare the groundwork for a smoother postpartum recovery. One of the hallmarks of this book is the detailed way it helps the woman coordinate the healthcare she is receiving from various disciplines in order to maximize her treatment options and empower her to be her own best advocate.

Written by: Lori E. Ross PhD, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Cindy-Lee Dennis RN PhD, University of Toronto Emma Robertson Blackmore PhD, Rochester Medical Center Donna E. Stewart MD, FRCP, University Health Network Partners: Best Start, Toronto Public Health, Journey Support Services, University Health Network. "This guide offers health and social service providers clear, practical strategies that are based on the most current and highest quality research evidence. I would recommend it for use in both clinical and community settings." Meir Steiner MD PhD FRCP To order email: [email protected]

In Dispatches from a Not-So-Perfect Life, Faulkner sheds light on the fear, confusion, and isolation experienced by many new mothers, mapping the terrain of contemporary domesticity, marriage, and motherhood in a voice that is candid, irreverent, and deeply personal, while always chronicling the unparalleled joy she and other mothers take in their children.

The Mommy Myth takes a provocative tour through the past thirty years of media images about mothers: the superficial achievements of the celebrity mom, the news media's sensational coverage of dangerous day care, the staging of the "mommy wars" between working mothers and stay-at-home moms, and the onslaught of values-based marketing that raises mothering standards to impossible levels, just to name a few. In concert with this messaging, the authors contend, is a conservative backwater of talking heads propagating the myth of the modern mom.

This beautifully illustrated book -a publication of the Family & Home Network- was written, edited, illustrated and published by mothers. It offers support and information to women as they become mothers, as well as insight into the lives of mothers who recognize the need to spend generous amounts of time with their children.

More and more parents are choosing to share fully the parenting of their children, and not just from economic necessity. Shared parenting usually means greater involvement by the father in what traditionally was the mother's domain. What the men and women who choose shared parenting are like, why they have made such a choice, and what effects this choice has on children and on the parents, both individually and as a couple, is the subject of Ehrensaft's book.

The constructive management of children�s aggression is among the most difficult and important challenges for parents, mental health professionals and other child caregivers. This book offers the reader an understanding of the nature of aggression and a rationale for specific strategies of parental intervention.

In The Beauty Myth the fearless Naomi Wolf revolutionized the way we think about beauty. In Misconceptions, she demythologizes motherhood and reveals the dangers of common assumptions about childbirth. With uncompromising honesty she describes how hormones eroded her sense of independence, ultrasounds tested her commitment to abortion rights, and the keepers of the OB/GYN establishment lacked compassion. The weeks after her first daughter�s birth taught her how society, employers, and even husbands can manipulate new mothers. She had bewildering post partum depression, but learned that a surprisingly high.percentage of women experience it.

Contributors from psychology, psychiatry, and education examine adult women's psychodynamics that are brought into play during motherhood. Some describe the development from early childhood of identifications, fantasies, and conflicts that organize mental representations. Others consider clinical aspects of the multiple inner events that entwine the mother's stability and self-esteem with events in her child's life.

This book summarizes the contributions of Margaret Mahler to contemporary developmental theory and applies the theory to clinical practice. Separation-individuation involves progression along two tracks. Separation refers to the child's movement from fusion with the mother; individuation consists of those steps that lead to the development of an individual�s own personal and unique characteristics.

This guide is one of the best available training manuals and sourcebooks for facilitators, managers and leaders who want to encourage full participation, promote mutual understanding and help groups build inclusive, sustainable agreements.