Creed Fabiola
Centre for History of Medicine, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Womens Hist Rev. 2024 Mar 15;34(1):93-117. doi: 10.1080/09612025.2024.2327895. eCollection 2025.
In December 1973, the BBC aired Nemone Lethbridge's auto-fictional play as one of their influential 'Play for Today' (PfT) series (1970-1984). This article explores the impact of Lethbridge's controversial television play, which drew attention to taboo topics, such as infertility, caesarean section childbirth, infanticide, suicide, and, separately, motherhood ageism and dismissive medical professionals. It will illustrate how Lethbridge's play was part of a broader change in discussing maternal mental illness and creating support for women experiencing postnatal depression and psychosis, instigated by the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM). The article situates within the wider history of the PfT series, with its focus on socio-political issues, and highlights the challenges Lethbridge faced in bringing the play to production. It analyses the mixed responses to the play, many of which were critical, and how this led to Lethbridge's launching of a grass-roots self-help group, Depressives Anonymous (DA), in 1974, which was-and still is-a long-lasting legacy of . The article builds on the history of maternal mental illness as explored in women's narratives and its association with stigma, support and feminism, alongside the British Broadcasting Corporation's television series PfT, in 1970s Britain.
1973年12月，英国广播公司（BBC）播出了内莫内·莱斯布里奇的自传体戏剧，作为其颇具影响力的“今日戏剧”（1970 - 1984年）系列之一。本文探讨了莱斯布里奇这部引发争议的电视剧的影响，该剧聚焦了一些禁忌话题，如不孕不育、剖腹产分娩、杀婴、自杀，另外还涉及产妇年龄歧视和冷漠的医疗专业人员。本文将阐述莱斯布里奇的这部戏剧如何成为讨论孕产妇精神疾病以及为产后抑郁和精神病患者提供支持这一更广泛变革的一部分，这一变革是由妇女解放运动推动的。本文将该剧置于“今日戏剧”系列更广泛的历史背景中，该系列聚焦社会政治问题，并突出了莱斯布里奇在将该剧搬上荧幕过程中所面临的挑战。本文分析了该剧所引发的各种反应，其中许多是批评性的，以及这如何导致莱斯布里奇在1974年发起了一个草根自助组织——抑郁症匿名互助会（DA），这是该剧长久以来的一个遗产，而且至今依然存在。本文基于女性叙事中所探讨的孕产妇精神疾病历史，及其与污名、支持和女权主义的关联，同时结合了20世纪70年代英国广播公司的电视剧“今日戏剧”系列。
