a resident of the English town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, 40 years didn’t know how his mother died, until he placed an ad in the local newspaper. About how he revealed a terrible family secret, reports the Daily Mail.
the 44-year-old Ian Cunningham (Iain Cunningham) lost her mother Irene (Irene) when he was three years old. Before he turned 18, his father don (Don) refused to talk about it because it was too painful for him. The child never even seen a photograph of his late mother. When Ian was 18 years old, don took a box of stuff Irene from the attic and showed it to his son.
many years Later, when Ian’s daughter was three years old, the same as he was when he died Irene, more and more he wondered about what happened to her and how it affected him. He published an ad in the newspaper and contacted the people closest to the mother. He found the closest friends of Irene, her classmates, former colleagues, relatives and former neighbors, who helped him to restore the portrait of a mother.
don met Irene at the age of 18 years at the dance at the Locarno ballroom Coventry. The couple married in November 1973. Irene became pregnant with Ian two years later. But shortly after the birth of Ian in January 1976, Irene said best friend that was suffering from hallucinations when recovering after childbirth in the hospital and couldn’t sleep when I got home.
Her doctor diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis, and Irene was sent to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital. There she was sedatively and held electroshock therapy, and soon after that, she went into catatonic stupor — a condition where patients remain completely immobile and uncommunicative. After she woke up, she has changed: she became paranoid and withdrawn.
“It was a different world — the doctors didn’t give you any information and you were not told what drugs they used and why. My life consisted of nightly trips to the hospital. I just sat next to a man who was completely uncommunicative” — commented on this story don. He added that no one explained to him what a catatonic stupor.
After nine months spent in the Hospital, Irene was discharged, and she spent 18 months at home, during which she was happy, took Ian for a walk in the Park and met up with friends. But after some time she became insane, her insomnia returned, and she was hospitalized again. Three months after this brother of don, Tom called his work and reported that Irene died.
Ian said, as pictures and memories of his mother helped him to know that before the illness she was a “young, bright and cheerful personality” and understand how much he meant to her. Now Ian and don are now more open and better understand each other. Don add��l that he, too, began to better understand why he lost his wife.
Postpartum psychosis is a serious mental illness that can cause new mothers to experience hallucinations and delusions. It affects one or two of the thousands of pregnant women.
