Plain Mama English

Postpartum Progress believes that talking to moms in their own language is a crucial step in increasing awareness and understanding of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.  We see two problems in the way mothers are educated:

1) The language explaining the symptoms and treatment of these illnesses is often confusing, very medical in nature, and doesn’t get to the heart of how it really feels to be ill.

Many women don’t understand terms like mania, dysthymia and psychomotor agitation.  That is why PPI has developed comprehensive symptom descriptions for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders based on the language mothers use who experience these illnesses.  We call this “plain mama English” and we believe these unique lists go much further in successfully helping moms recognize when they need help.

2) Most major websites and resources discuss the what, but not the how.  They tell moms what may happen if they have these illnesses, but not what to do about it once they realize they have it, other than “call your doctor.”

At PPI, we want moms to know what to do next.  We offer, wherever possible, direct resources, including ways to talk to other survivors and to us.  If mom just can’t manage to look through our lists to find what she needs, we’ll get the specific information for her.  We’re not just a static website.  We are not nameless and faceless.  We are real people who want to help.