Although I lived with a bipolar diagnosis years before my own crisis with mania and depression during pregnancy, I was intrigued by both the familiarity and foreignness of postpartum bipolar.* As I began to do more research, I stumbled across Dyane Harwood’s memoir Birth of a New Brain: Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder (2017). TheContinue reading “Thinking with Dyane Harwood: Birth of a New Brain”
Category Archives: Motherhood
Emerging Out of the Wormhole
If you follow this blog, you may have notice that I’ve fallen off my weekly posting rhythm. The last couple of weeks have been quite hellish in my head and in my household. My toddler got her first cold and came down with the terrible twos.(The tantrums and antics have been particularly pronounced!) My husband,Continue reading “Emerging Out of the Wormhole”
Healing Journey: Mid-Semester Check-In
I am a little more than half way through the first semester of my second year as an Anthropology PhD student at NYU and things are starting to get real. Since my last episode in 2019, I’ve recovered my sense of self after losing sight of who I am. I have overcome the imposter syndromeContinue reading “Healing Journey: Mid-Semester Check-In”
A Psychoanalytic Review of Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals
Abstract: Read through a psychoanalytic lens, The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the Self in conflict with societal pressures to be docile and conform. Lorde manages to reconcile her past self with her new reality by rejecting the guise provided by a False Self in order toContinue reading “A Psychoanalytic Review of Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals”
Language Matters: Perinatal vs Postpartum
Continue with the topic of language from a previous post, I’ve been thinking about how the terminology we use impacts our awareness of and education about people’s lived experiences with mental health challenges. This post will focus on those experiences surrounding childbirth. There has been an increasing awareness about the term postpartum, meaning the periodContinue reading “Language Matters: Perinatal vs Postpartum”
Healing Journey: When Therapy is Harmful, Not Helpful
Trigger warning: perinatal psychiatric crisis, psychiatric incarceration, systemic violence In a previous post, I wondered if I outgrew therapy. I questioned whether I worked through or “got over” my trauma. I was ready to quit. However, instead of breaking up with my therapist, I was able to have a powerful conversation in which I realizedContinue reading “Healing Journey: When Therapy is Harmful, Not Helpful”
Breastfeeding While Black (& Bipolar): A poem & reflections
In honor of our ancestors the enslaved wet nurses / their life-force liquified sentenced to sustain white supremacy’s offspring Now we celebrate our brown babies suckling / in our arms against our skin / on our bodies / at our breasts Liberated lactation is a revelation a revolution / nourishment only Black bodies can provideContinue reading “Breastfeeding While Black (& Bipolar): A poem & reflections”
Healing Journey: My Rainbow Baby
In honor of National Rainbow Baby Day Trigger warning: pregnancy loss, miscarriage, sexual trauma, obstetric violence, suicidal ideation, police brutality My rainbow baby was conceived months before she took residence in my womb. I was at a postpartum doula training learning about reproductive psychiatry for mothers with mental illness. Paige Bellenbaum from The Motherhood Center inContinue reading “Healing Journey: My Rainbow Baby”
Op-Ed: Extended Medicaid Benefits Provide A Lifeline for New Moms
The United States has an embarrassingly high maternal mortality rate compared to other highly industrialized nations. The majority of maternal mortality happens after childbirth — close to a quarter of pregnancy-related deaths take place between six weeks to a year after childbirth. So, it is baffling that federal law only guarantees 60 days of pregnancy-relatedContinue reading “Op-Ed: Extended Medicaid Benefits Provide A Lifeline for New Moms”
Coming Out (Again!)
Coming out. It wasn’t so difficult the first time. Before my last major manic depressive episode, I didn’t think my mental health diagnosis was anything to be ashamed of. I shared my diagnosis willingly with friends, family, first dates… I claimed my diagnosis on stages in front of audiences. I began speaking about it beforeContinue reading “Coming Out (Again!)”
Nadia Naomi Mbonde 