“I used to be someone else”: postpartum identity and invisible labor among urban mothers in Chennai, an interpretative phenomenological study

This paper investigates the identity disruptions and emotional labor experienced by postpartum working and once-working mothers in Chennai, South India, through an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of five in-depth narrative interviews, selected from a broader pool of 62 respondents in the screening test. While postpartum distress is typically conceptualized within a framework of clinical or psychological diagnosis, this research situates maternal suffering in socio cultural and gendered ways that shape women's lived experiences. The five participants included women 25-35 years of age, who provided detailed and raw accounts that illustrated how early motherhood ruptured their self concept, affected their professional aspirations, and resulting emotional incongruence, even when there appeared to be family supports or accommodating workplaces in place. Across the narratives, themes of guilt, role overload, emotional invisibility, and internalized ideals of "perfect motherhood" emerged as dominant. Although some tried to cope by engaging in flexible work or family arrangements, most described ongoing frustrations in managing unequal domestic responsibilities and being displaced from their sense of self. The findings demonstrated how early motherhood when placed in unequal domestic and institutional systems can produce long-lasting identity loss and psychosocial strain. The study urges the need for a culturally relevant reframing of maternal mental health, moving beyond biomedical perspective toward structural awareness and subsequent policy reform. The findings highlight the necessity for reforming policy that not only addresses structural inequities in care giving but to promote maternal mental health as an essential component of public health strategy that aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 3.4, which seeks to improve mental well-being, and supports the World Health Organization's emphasis on integrating perinatal mental health into maternal and child health services.