We need to talk about postpartum psychosis, with Catherine Cho
So many women experience a postpartum mental disorder after having a baby. For me, it was postnatal depression. For Catherine Cho, it was postpartum psychosis.
You might not have thought about postpartum psychosis before. Certainly, I had no idea before I read Catherine’s memoir, that 1-2 in every 1000 women will be affected by it. So why isn’t it being talked about more? Or even, at all?
In this episode, Catherine explains how she came to be sectioned on a psychiatric ward, how it impacted her relationship with her baby son and the rest of her family, the depression which followed her psychosis, and how she navigated second time motherhood.
I know this episode might feel scary to some of you. But I believe that forewarned is forearmed. That knowing about these things can better protect us and those around us. And that politically, we should be talking more about matrescence - thought to be as big a cognitive change as puberty! - and how to improve maternal mental health.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please call your GP or the NHS helpline, on 111. If it is an emergency, please call 999. For more information, visit app-network.org.
Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11292/9781526619044) by Catherine Cho
You can read an excerpt of Catherine’s book, here (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/07/my-baby-had-devils-eyes-the-reality-of-postpartum-psychosis).
Get in touch at doingitrightpod@gmail.com (mailto:doingitrightpod@gmail.com)
Presented by Pandora Sykes
Sound by Kelsey Bennett
Co-production by Pandora Sykes and Kelsey Bennett
30 Apr 2024
Decolonising beauty, with Afua Hirsch
I’m really interested in talking about the gnarly parts of the beauty industry - where things like tanning and hair removal actually come from. In the last series, Jessica DeFino debunked many myths about make-up and skincare. This season, I talk to journalist, author and broadcaster Afua Hirsch about beauty’s colonialist ideals and how she sought to break up with them.
Afua talks about reconnecting with her ancestral heritage through beauty ritual, why rest is resistance, how tattooing can be a sacred act, why puberty should be celebrated, and how globalisation and the borderless world has left us yearning for community and ritual.
As you’ll glean from our sprawling conversation, ‘beauty’ - and by that I don’t mean make-up, but the social, political and cultural ideals around women’s bodies - is the portal to the way we live. I found this conversation so galvanizing (I am now on the path to getting “spiritually ripped”) and I really hope you do too.
Decolonising My Body: a radical exploration of rituals and beauty (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11292/9781529908664) by Afua Hirsch
Get in touch at doingitrightpod@gmail.com (mailto:doingitrightpod@gmail.com)
Presented by Pandora Sykes
Sound by Kelsey Bennett
Co-production by Pandora Sykes and Kelsey Bennett
30 Apr 2024
Why you might be languishing, with Corey Keyes
Feeling demotivated? Aimless? Without meaning, or purpose? According to sociologist and psychologist Corey Keyes, you could be languishing.
In this episode, I talk to the renowned pioneer of mental wellbeing about his theories of languishing and flourishing, the subject of a thought-provoking new book. Corey explains why so many of us are languishing, how it’s different from burnout and depression, and the habits (such as ‘passive entertainment’) which can keep you stuck in the rut.
Corey also explores his opposing theory of flourishing, which is not just about “feeling good” but “functioning well’ - and how seeking it saved his life. So what does it mean to flourish? And how can we achieve it?
Languishing: How To Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11292/9781911709589) by Corey Keyes
Adam Grant’s piece for The New York Times on languishing (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html)
Corey’s interview (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/17/how-to-flourish-sociologist-corey-keyes) with The Guardian
Get in touch at doingitrightpod@gmail.com (mailto:doingitrightpod@gmail.com)
Presented by Pandora Sykes
Sound by Kelsey Bennett
Co-production by Pandora Sykes and Kelsey Bennett
Inside a recent episode
Introverts and Extroverts, with Arthur Brooks
Published 29 Sept 2021 · Transcript excerpt
[…] That introverts became happier during the pandemic and extroverts became a lot unhappier. So the people who suffered the most were those who were cooped up. They didn't have fresh meat. They didn't have the social interaction that extroverts need. They didn't have the audience that they're used to. […]
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