Postpartum Depression and the Communicative Construction of Maternal Identity: Motherhood in Tension

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Kelly M. Weikle

Postpartum Depression and the Communicative Construction of Maternal Identity

Name: Postpartum Depression and the Communicative Construction of Maternal Identity
Price: 150 AUD
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ISBN: 9781666961126

Motherhood in Tension

Kelly M. Weikle

$150

Hardback

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English

Rowman & Littlefield
16 April 2026

Communication studies; The self, ego, identity, personality; Women's health; Coping with illness

In this book, Kelly M. Weikle contends that foregrounding lived experiences and applying identity as a lens to the study of postpartum depression provides a uniquely powerful perspective through which we can better understand both the condition and how to effectively support mothers during the postpartum period.

Using the Communication Theory of Identity as a sensitizing framework, Weikle incorporates interviews with women who have experienced postpartum depression and autoethnographic insights from her own experience to demonstrate how expectations from others, close personal relationships, and dominant ideologies of “good” and “bad” motherhood can coalesce with mental health to shape each mother’s postpartum experience on an individual level. While these tensions and challenges are not strictly medical and are thus more easily overlooked, they can manifest through devastating health crises including extreme anxiety and obsessions, intrusive thoughts of escape, bouts of insomnia, and intense feelings of overwhelm and maternal failure.

Ultimately, Weikle’s analysis contributes to scholarship across fields and disciplines through its investigation into how and why loss of control and loss of self can manifest—and the significance of those manifestations—in the postpartum context. This work thus sets a foundation and an impetus for researchers and practitioners to take these factors into consideration as they work to develop more impactful support for postpartum mothers.

By: Kelly M. Weikle
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781666961126
ISBN 10: 1666961124
Pages: 128
Publication Date: 16 April 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Kelly M. Weikle is a teaching assistant professor and interpretive identity communication scholar in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, USA.

Reviews for Postpartum Depression and the Communicative Construction of Maternal Identity: Motherhood in Tension

Mothering touches all of us, and so we all benefit from this book about a commonly carried, yet rarely spoken, pain point. Sharing personal stories and scholarship with such compassion, clarity, and vulnerability, Weikle turns our heavy loneliness into floating hope! This book belongs on the shelf with the baby books, as it comforts a mom like she comforts the world! * Christine Kunkle, Professor of Communication Studies, West Virginia University, USA *