all in her head

all in her head: a novel by Sunny Mera. Berkeley:She Writes Press, 2015. 173 pages. ****

Sunny chronicles her life from her childhood growing up in the Midwest with all of the trauma associated with a cheating father who gets banned from their church to the present day life as a loving wife who experiences postpartum depression and psychosis. Sunny is excited and scared about her life: acceptance into graduate school and finding out she is pregnant. When she experiences the psychological phenomena of orgasmic labor, Sunny enters a world in which she doesn't know reality from delusion. Is her doctor sending her messages of love and why won't he answer her? 

While this is a memoir based on Sunny's experiences, because she can't differentiate between what she experienced and reality, she chose to label it as fiction. A riveting story of mental illness, depression, fear, acceptance and love. Her immediate family supported her when her husband didn't want to hear what she had to say and they loved her unconditionally. An honest look into the world of depression and psychosis and will perhaps help other women and families who don't understand this phenomena, there was a documentary on this topic Orgasmic Birth. 

I received an Advance Reader Copy from BookSparks for a review.

In the "About the Author" Sunny explains "I was inspired to write the book after my diagnosis of severe mental illness and my battle with postpartum depression, psychosis, and delusional disorder."