Version 1
: Received: 30 October 2024 / Approved: 30 October 2024 / Online: 31 October 2024 (10:03:26 CET)
How to cite:
Jackson, L.; O'Donoghue, E. M.; Helm, J.; Gentilcore, R.; Hussain, A. “Some Days Are Not a Good Day to Be a Mum”: Exploring Guilt and Shame in the Early Postpartum Period. Preprints2024, 2024102496. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2496.v1
Jackson, L.; O'Donoghue, E. M.; Helm, J.; Gentilcore, R.; Hussain, A. “Some Days Are Not a Good Day to Be a Mum”: Exploring Guilt and Shame in the Early Postpartum Period. Preprints 2024, 2024102496. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2496.v1
Jackson, L.; O'Donoghue, E. M.; Helm, J.; Gentilcore, R.; Hussain, A. “Some Days Are Not a Good Day to Be a Mum”: Exploring Guilt and Shame in the Early Postpartum Period. Preprints2024, 2024102496. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2496.v1
APA Style
Jackson, L., O'Donoghue, E. M., Helm, J., Gentilcore, R., & Hussain, A. (2024). “Some Days Are Not a Good Day to Be a Mum”: Exploring Guilt and Shame in the Early Postpartum Period. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2496.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Jackson, L., Rita Gentilcore and Anisha Hussain. 2024 "“Some Days Are Not a Good Day to Be a Mum”: Exploring Guilt and Shame in the Early Postpartum Period" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2496.v1
Abstract
The first postpartum year is a period of elevated risk for experiencing psychological distress. Guilt and shame have been identified as significant predictors of other forms of psychological distress, such as anxiety and depression. However, guilt and shame are poorly distinguished in pre-existing literature. The current study used inductive thematic analysis to explore lived experiences of guilt and shame in the early postpartum period. All those interviewed had internalised unrealistic mothering ideals. Physical constraints on one’s parenting abilities, due to birth recovery, exacerbated postpartum guilt and shame. Other sources of guilt and shame included body dissatisfaction and making comparisons against other mothers and media depictions of motherhood. Participants were hesitant to confide in others about parenting challenges due to fears of judgement, which perpetuated the shame-concealment cycle. Future research should prioritise the development of interventions designed to target a harsh parenting inner critic, and the re-framing cognitive biases, to nurture more realistic and self-compassionate beliefs about motherhood. For practice, current findings mirror previous calls for intimate partners to be actively included in routine appointments, to provide healthcare practitioners with specialist training in postpartum mental health, and to educate mothers on responsible social media use.
Keywords
Guilt; Shame; Morality; Postpartum; Parenting; Body image; Embarrassment; Stigma; Mental Health; Intensive Mothering Theory
Subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
