In my graduation thesis I examine the topic of postpartum depression and how it relates to the lives of women and how it affects their lives. In the theoretical part, I focus on explaining what women experience during pregnancy and after childbirth. I explain the general characteristics of pregnancy; I describe pregnancy by stages (each trimester) and what a woman can experience during each of these stages. In the subject of childbirth, I also describe the course of childbirth and its phases for an individual to better understand what a woman experiences, while emphasizing that the descriptions are general and depend on every woman individually. I divide the topic concerning motherhood into two sub-topics that discuss the social construct of motherhood and mothers in the media and on social networks. Finally, I explain the differences between different types of postpartum distress and describe postpartum depression in more detail (how it manifests itself, what the symptoms are, how to treat it, etc). In the empirical part, I was interested in how women experience the time of pregnancy and maternity (transition to motherhood); what difficulties they encounter at these turning points; how their loved ones accept a woman's pregnancy and motherhood and what support they offer her. I also studied whether problems during pregnancy resulted in postpartum depression. The study showed that women with postpartum depression experienced pregnancy problems, but we cannot substantiate this for certainly as they characterized their pregnancy term as a beautiful and easy time. The study also showed that the transition to motherhood represented a problem for them as they feared the new and the unknown. It is also important to note that women attach great importance to the social construct of the ideal mother and that she is greatly burdened by it. The women interviewed told they had sufficient support from their loved ones after childbirth, but despite everything their greatest distress was loneliness resulting from isolation from the rest of society.
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