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The Australian College of Midwives and beyondblue — the national depression initiative, is publishing a new book by David Vernon about surviving postnatal depression.

Australians Talk — surviving perinatal depression will be a collection of stories from women, their partners and family about their experiences of perinatal depression.  Like most forms of depression the impacts of perinatal vary greatly from individual to individual and from family to family.

Perinatal depression

Perinatal depression is the term used to describe a mood disorder related to pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting.  The most common form of perinatal depression is ‘postnatal depression’ which occurs after the birth of the baby.  Around one in every 7 first time mothers experience postnatal depression. Depression related to the pregnancy and upcoming birth, is also reasonably common, with around eight percent of pregnant women experiencing depression.

Aims

The aims of this book are to:

1. Give a voice to those who have suffered through perinatal depression. Both to those directly affected and family members and friends of those affected;
   

2. Demonstrate the variation in symptoms and impacts of perinatal depression on the affected individual, their family and friends, and that sufferers are not alone in experiencing perinatal depression;
   

3. Provide suggestions to those who are suffering perinatal depression about methods and techniques that have assisted others in overcoming perinatal depression;
   

4. Help inform medical professionals and trainee professionals of the scope and intensity of the experiences of those who suffer perinatal depression; and
   

5. Help inform the general community about the impact of perinatal depression on individuals, families and the community.
   

The value of using individual’s stories to illustrate these points is that the experience of living with perinatal anxiety or depression is highly personal.  It is expected that by including a range of stories in this book, the variety and complexity of perinatal anxiety or depression will be better demonstrated, and readers will find stories to which they can relate.

Publication

It is expected that the book will be published in the second half of 2009.

The Editor

The editor of Australians Talk is David Vernon.  He is an experienced editor and writer and you will find much of his work on this website.  He has edited three anthologies of stories relating to birth and pregnancy.  For more information on him, click here.

He is an empathetic editor who will treat your writing about your experiences with care.

Further Questions?

Click here to send David Vernon an email.