The church was not helpful for Mirian while going through her mental health problems as she was missing the mental support she needed.

Transcript

So, I think it had some positive and negative aspects because during the first postpartum I had some support from friends and we had support from friends also right after my mother-in-law passed away. So they were there. But also I think the fact that there’s – there was this expectation that the role of the mother is more important than the role of the father. You know? Like, ends up putting a lot of pressure and more work on the shoulders of women than men, and that was one of the negative aspects.

Mind you, I was already distancing myself from that mindset when I had my baby. And so I was already very critical of that but I was still part of a community who thought very much like that. And so I think that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t feel like I had anybody who I would feel comfortable with talking about my postpartum depression – because in that place you’re not encouraged to talk about these things in a way that makes you feel, you know, welcome. It was more like, oh, you’re feeling like this. Oh I’m so sorry. I’m going to pray for you. You know? Like, or if you need help maybe I can help you bringing food. Or, you know, like, that’s one of the things that they did help with. A lot of people brought food during the postpartum period. So that was good.

But I feel like they focus so much on the physical aspect. Like, we are going to help the mother by cleaning her house or by bringing food or by changing a diaper here or there. But I didn’t feel like I would have somebody to sit down to talk to. You know? So that – and I think that’s very much cultural. And it’s, I think, inflated by the fact that it was not only a religious context but a Brazilian religious context. You know? So it was, like, I think double what it would have been if it were outside the church. You know? And so, yeah. I think that that would be it. That would be one of the things, the criticisms that I would have. So even though they were helpful in certain ways I don’t think I was equipped to deal with that problem specifically in the church.

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