Dangerous motherhood : insanity and childbirth in Victorian Britain / Hilary Marland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marland, Hilary.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Puerperal psychoses--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Puerperal psychoses.

Childbirth--Great Britain--Psychological aspects--History--19th century.

Childbirth.

Motherhood--Great Britain--Psychological aspects--History--19th century.

Motherhood.

Psychological aspects.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xii, 303 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Summary:

"Dangerous Motherhood" is the first study of the close and complex relationship between mental disorder and childbirth. Exploring the relationship between women, their families and their doctors reveals how explanations for the onset of puerperal insanity were drawn from a broad set of moral, social and environmental frameworks, rather than being bound to ideas that women as a whole were likely to be vulnerable to mental illness. The horror of this devastating disorder which upturned the household and turned gentle mothers into disruptive and dangerous, mad women, was magnified by its occurrence at a time when it was anticipated that women would be most happy in the fulfillment of their role as mothers.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1403920389

OCLC:

123214854