Persevered A Maternal Mental Health Memoir

If you think you know what mental health during and after pregnancy looks like, Persevered: A Maternal Mental Health Memoir will make you reconsider. Dr. Kara Zivin offers a rare, unfiltered look at what happened when a respected mental health researcher faced her own grave battle with depression and anxiety during and after pregnancy. This book is a raw personal account of surviving the darkest moments of new motherhood while juggling high expectations at home and at work. Zivin takes the reader on an intimate and eye-opening journey that weaves together her perinatal medical records, journal entries, research, and imperfect memories. The story unfolds across hospital rooms, the author's home, and the university where she works, highlighting the complexity of holding on to one's identity when everything feels uncertain. Zivin writes with striking honesty about the confusion, guilt, and isolation that so many mothers experience alone but rarely admit to others.