Table 3.

Postpartum depression categories defined by phenomenological analysis

Category	Category definition	Narrative name of category
CA	Sub-thresholda scores throughout	No depressive symptoms
CB	Above thresholdb scores within the first month after delivery which decrease to subthreshold by 7 weeks postpartum	Early onset of depressive symptoms which decline over time
CC	Above threshold scores within the first month after delivery which do not tend to decline after 7 weeks postpartum	Early onset of depressive symptoms which persist over time
CD	Above threshold scores at or after 7 weeks postpartum, but lower scores before this point	Late onset depressive symptoms
CE	Near or above thresholdc scores before pregnancy	Pre-pregnancy depressive symptoms
Other	Those that didn’t fit categories CA – CE

^aEPDS score <11; ^b EPDS score ≥11; ^c EPDS score ≥9