“BUYER’S REMORSE” OF “EVERYTHING SHE EVER WANTED:” NARRATING EXPERIENCES OF POSTNATAL DEPRESSION AFTER ASSISTED CONCEPTION

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Pope, N. (2019). “BUYER’S REMORSE” OF “EVERYTHING SHE EVER WANTED:” NARRATING EXPERIENCES OF POSTNATAL DEPRESSION AFTER ASSISTED CONCEPTION. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

When I initially read the heartfelt stories of the many people who had battled depression during their child’s infancy after assisted conception, I was shaken by the complex emotions they expressed. They wrote about communication breakdowns that occur when discussing their lived experiences with family and friends who cannot relate. The breakdowns manifested as negative messages that reflected ridicule and presumption from others. After collecting relevant social media and online discourse, I discovered how this group uses storytelling to discuss their experiences with others. Even within the storytelling spaces of blogs and social media, the array of possible terminology to label their experiences caused confusion and strained communication. What was evident is that storytelling acted as a valuable tool for individuals who experienced postnatal depression after assisted conception. They worked together to make sense of their experiences. Inspired by this powerful storytelling, I set out to share their stories in a way that depicted both diversity and similarity of experiences. After using thematic narratie analysis to analyze the data, I constructed a set of fictional and fictionalized narratives. The narratives take the form of stream-of-consciousness monologues from six characters who are demographically diverse but have similar lived experiences. The characters in the monologues are composite – they’re a compilation of characters from similar stories. Through these fictional and fictionalized narratives, we can take a glimpse into the lives of people who are different than ourselves, or in some cases, people we can easily relate to. The monologues help us to better understand lived experience of people who live with postnatal depression after assisted conception. "As one person emptied their glass, a group of others attempted to refill the glass and replenish their spirit using love and support through comments and responses."

Details
Author

Pope, Nathan

Title

“BUYER’S REMORSE” OF “EVERYTHING SHE EVER WANTED:” NARRATING EXPERIENCES OF POSTNATAL DEPRESSION AFTER ASSISTED CONCEPTION

Physical Description

1 online resource (60 pages) : PDF

Date

2019

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

When I initially read the heartfelt stories of the many people who had battled depression during their child’s infancy after assisted conception, I was shaken by the complex emotions they expressed. They wrote about communication breakdowns that occur when discussing their lived experiences with family and friends who cannot relate. The breakdowns manifested as negative messages that reflected ridicule and presumption from others. After collecting relevant social media and online discourse, I discovered how this group uses storytelling to discuss their experiences with others. Even within the storytelling spaces of blogs and social media, the array of possible terminology to label their experiences caused confusion and strained communication. What was evident is that storytelling acted as a valuable tool for individuals who experienced postnatal depression after assisted conception. They worked together to make sense of their experiences. Inspired by this powerful storytelling, I set out to share their stories in a way that depicted both diversity and similarity of experiences. After using thematic narratie analysis to analyze the data, I constructed a set of fictional and fictionalized narratives. The narratives take the form of stream-of-consciousness monologues from six characters who are demographically diverse but have similar lived experiences. The characters in the monologues are composite – they’re a compilation of characters from similar stories. Through these fictional and fictionalized narratives, we can take a glimpse into the lives of people who are different than ourselves, or in some cases, people we can easily relate to. The monologues help us to better understand lived experience of people who live with postnatal depression after assisted conception. "As one person emptied their glass, a group of others attempted to refill the glass and replenish their spirit using love and support through comments and responses."

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Communication

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Infertility
Narrative
Postnatal Depression
Postpartum Depression
Sad Dad
Storytelling

Subject Area

Communication Studies

Advisor(s)

QUINLAN, MARGARET

Committee Members

DAVIS, CHRISTINE
JOHNSON, BETHANY

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2019.

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Pope_uncc_0694N_12117

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2383