The lived experiences of postpartum psychosis

Williams, Katherine and Lobban, Fiona and Kelly, James (2025) The lived experiences of postpartum psychosis. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the experiences of people with lived experience of postpartum psychosis and comprises of three sections; a systematic literature review, an empirical research paper and a critical appraisal. The systematic literature used a Thematic Synthesis approach to explore the experiences of care and support for those experiencing postpartum psychosis. In total, eight research papers were synthesised in order to gain a better understanding of support available, what has been valuable and what gaps remain in services. Four overarching themes were created: 1) knowledge to identify, understand and recover; 2) the varying support needed throughout recovery; 3) consistency, communication and compassion; 4) uncertainty, identity and change post-recovery. The review highlighted the differences between professional and personal relationships, alongside how care and support needs change over time. The empirical paper reported on individual interviews exploring experiences of using online peer forums for support with postpartum psychosis, taking an Interpretative Phenomenological approach to analysis. Four themes were developed: 1) from isolation to connection: validation, growth and hope from shared experiences; 2) complementing not replacing: filling the gaps in support; 3) impacts of privacy, representation and readiness to share on engagement; 4) relational experiences within peer support: altruism, boundaries and comparison. The findings demonstrate the importance of peer support for those experiencing postpartum psychosis. The critical appraisal provides an analysis of the challenges conducting the research, and the strengths and limitations of each study. Personal reflections are given by the author in relation to the missing voices within the research, the potential burden of peer support and the impacts of being a researcher with no personal experience of postpartum psychosis. Suggestions for future research are discussed.