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A review of the literature reveals how little has been published by psychoanalysts about the important subject of postpartum depression. This article offers a way of looking at the phenomenon from a transgenerational perspective. The concept of symbiosis is taken from the mother's point of view as well as from the baby's. It is defined as a delusional two-person fantasy of mutual dependence rather than as a normal phase of development. The analysis of a case of postnatal depression is presented to illustrate the clinical and theoretical implications of this viewpoint and how it was applied in treatment.
Current estimates are that about one mother in ten experiences some form of depression after giving birth (Gavin et al. 2005) but definitive data are still lacking. The emotional consequences for mother and child are serious and deserve treatment.
Traditionally in psychoanalysis, motherhood and the early mother-child relations have been studied from the infant's side, the fantasies and feelings of the mother often remaining a ‘dark continent’. It is proposed here that separation and individuation are not only an important phase in the life of the child but are also highly significant from the mother's point of view. I suggest that the woman's unresolved symbiotic illusion (Halberstadt-Freud 1989) with her own mother can play a central role in postpartum depression.