Friday Forever

Postnatal depression, a recognised and sometimes severe disorder, is estimated to affect approximately 10-15% of new mothers. While both antidepressants and lifestyle changes can reduce the severity of symptoms, many sufferers find themselves too busy or inexperienced to seek timely help, while still others struggle to find long-term, effective treatment. With astonishing honesty and wry humour this memoir documents one woman's horrific experience of postnatal depression and the therapeutic process that followed. More than simply an account of illness and recovery, this book also asks important questions about the patient/practitioner relationship, and examines how love and marriage can survive parenting seriously ill children. Candid and informative, this memoir is essential reading for clinicians, general practitioners, mental health professionals, nurses and midwives. It is also highly recommended for anyone affected by postnatal depression - patients and carers alike. Forever Friday is a gift for anyone who has struggled with the illness caused by depression, anyone who has wanted to help a family member or friend, any health professional who wants to have a better understanding of the patient's experience of illness and anyone who simply wants to know more about what it means to be human. - from the foreword by Jill Gordon 'What happened might have destroyed Susan's career and rendered her seriously dysfunctional. For a time, that is exactly what occurred. But Susan did what Dante did, what intellectuals and artists have always done: she observed the dark places with an acute and unsparing eye, she analyzed, she wrote her way out.' from the foreward by Janette Turner Hospital

Susan Bradley Smith was educated at the University of New South Wales and University of New England, and began her writing life as a theatre and music journalist in Sydney and later London. Widely published as a literary and theatre historian and creative writer, her latest book, supermodernprayerbook (Salt, 2010) was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slesser Poetry Prize. Publications include Griefbox and Other Plays, a selection of her own plays, ad her first collection of poetry, Marmalade Exile. Susan has research interests in 21st century literature, lifewritng, and medical humanities (bibliotherapy). She lives in Melbourne and Lennox Head.

What I didn't know: Life in topsy-turvy land. My first babies, and the historical claws of illness. New babies, and the sickening punishment of genetics. Love and other addictions. Hunting home, chasing health. The true shape of a pear.