Local mother’s memoir sheds light on postpartum psychosis

A LOCAL mother who has written a memoir about postpartum psychosis and recovery, is preparing to launch her new book this month at The Silk Mill.   

Everyone is here to help – a healing account of postpartum psychosis and recovery has been written by a local resident, Ruth Stacey, who suffered postpartum psychosis after the birth of her son, Eddie, in 2019. 

“I was admitted to a mother and baby unit two hours away when he was just 17 days old,” explains Ruth. “There I was sectioned within the first 48 hours and stayed for five weeks and five days.

“I have a history of psychosis and mental health conditions but many mothers who suffer postpartum psychosis have no history of mental illness. There are about 1,400 cases in the UK every year, and shockingly, only 100 beds.

“That means that mothers either have to go into acute adult psychiatric units without their babies or they stay at home untreated.

“Postpartum psychosis is a medical emergency and psychosis is wildly misunderstood and misrepresented. With my memoir, I aim to raise awareness and money for the amazing charity Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP). In fact, the chief executive of the charity has written a quote on my book cover and I am working with them currently to produce a personal piece of writing on what helped me recover. 

“I feel that my book is very different in its approach, as it has past-tense reflection as well as pieces of writing written at the time of my illness, messages between my family, self-help sections and medical notes. It is unlike any of the very few books out there on postpartum psychosis.

 “My ultimate aim would be to get my book on reading lists, for example, for midwives who, as I currently understand it, get only 30 minutes of training on postpartum psychosis.

“I aim to talk at Frome Birth Talk this year and last year I did a live feed through Instagram about postpartum on Dadvengers (a dad-friendly/based parenting group), which reached 2,000 people.”

The launch of Ruth’s memoir will take place on Tuesday 23rd April at 6pm, doors open at 4.30pm.