This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ayana Lage , author of “ Missing Me: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis and the Long Road Back .” It has been edited for length and clarity.
A little more than a week after giving birth to my daughter, I sat up in bed. “God is talking to me,” I told my husband. I was a prophet and our daughter — who I increasingly thought of as just my daughter—was Jesus.
I was so annoyed that my husband didn’t understand the importance of the moment. I was trying to tell him I was a prophet, and he just looked terrified.
I turned to my parents. They are more religious than me, and I thought they would…
