What You Don't Expect When You're Expecting: Demonstrating Stigma Against Women With Postpartum Psychological Disorders

We explored whether women with postpartum psychological disorders encounter stigma, and whether the nature and/or magnitude of that stigma changes as a function of specific postpartum disorder. Participants (N = 430) were randomly assigned to read a brief vignette depicting a new mother experiencing symptoms of either no postpartum disorder (control) or postpartum: depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, specific phobia, or psychosis. They then completed outcome measures assessing stigma. Results provided novel evidence of stigma toward individuals experiencing postpartum psychological disorders, such that women with any postpartum psychological disorder were robustly stigmatized relative to the control. Further, postpartum psychosis was generally more stigmatized relative to the other disorders. To our knowledge, these results reflect the first experimental evidence of stigma toward people suffering from postpartum psychological disorders-stigma that may undermine treatment seeking for conditions with potentially severe consequences. Implications for postpartum well-being and treatment accessibility are discussed.