JOURNAL ARTICLE

Investigators from Rutgers University-New Brunswick Release New Data on Psychosis (The War On Postpartum Psychosis: Elizabeth B. Davis, Voluntary Sterilisation, and the Fight Against Poverty In Black Harlem, 1960-1978).

  • Published In: Mental Health Weekly Digest, 2026. P. 345 1 of 2

  • Database: Psychology Source 2 of 2

Abstract

The article focuses on the research regarding Black psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Elizabeth Bishop Davis and her initiatives at Harlem Hospital Center during the 1960s aimed at addressing postpartum psychosis and unwanted pregnancies among Black women in Harlem. It discusses how Davis promoted voluntary sterilization as a response to the sociopolitical challenges faced by these women, linking postpartum psychosis to poverty and family dynamics. The research critiques how this initiative, while framed as liberatory, reflected and reinforced negative perceptions of Black motherhood and the need for conformity to white, middle-class family ideals. The findings are part of a peer-reviewed study published in the Social History of Medicine. [Extracted from the article]

Additional Information

  • Source:Mental Health Weekly Digest. 2026/02, p345
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Politics and Government
  • Publication Date:2026
  • ISSN:1543-6616
  • Accession Number:191544333
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