Gender and postpartum depression in Arab Middle Eastern women

SynopsisPost-partum depression (PPD) is a mood disturbance that occurs in the weeks or months after child birth. PPD accounts for a substantial share of the global burden of disease; yet, gaps in research are especially high in Arab and Middle Eastern populations. Here, we review and offer a feminist critique of the scant biomedical research on PPD in Arab and Middle Eastern populations. Rates of PPD in some cases exceed those in Western populations, and even biomedical studies reveal that (1) poor support, (2) experiences of violence, (3) frustrated efforts to achieve norms of motherhood, and (4) specific features of patriarchal kinship are important contexts within which PPD occurs. Our review spurs a call for engendering research on PPD in this and other non-Western contexts.