Paula Nicolson has carried out much research on topics relating to gender and health issues and this is reflected in her book. She has used her research experiences and Interviews with women to support her thesis that post natal depression (PND) is a socially predictable response to the changes associated with motherhood. PND, she argues, is not a medical condition, is not pathological and is not biological in origin. The chapters include an exploration of women's own accounts of motherhood, the literature on PND, theoretical perspectives explaining PND, contrasting models of postnatal care and the maternity blues, research issues crucial to understanding motherhood and PND, the transition to motherhood through loss of other aspects of womanhood and the usefulness oft he concept of PND itself.