Many cases of PPD may remain undiagnosed due to constraints such as time and concerns about the social acceptability of screening. But the majority of undiagnosed cases are probably due to the social stigma of being labeled an “unhappy mother,”5 not to mention the public image of PPD. Upon formal screening,
many women scoring in a depressive range fully admit to being depressed, understanding that their symptoms are neither minor nor transient. But they reject the term “postpartum depression”
because this implies to them that their feelings are caused by their babies.4 For these women, it is the stigma of PPD that causes shame, fear, embarrassment, and guilt.2