Adele is bringing awareness to a very important issue: postpartum psychosis, which her best friend, Laura, has experienced. On Monday (August 13), the singer posted a picture to Instagram of the two cuddling with Laura’s son (and Adele’s godson), alongside a poignant message.

“This is my best friend,” she wrote in the caption. “We have been friends for more of our lives than we haven’t. She had my beautiful godson 6 months ago and it was the biggest challenge of her life in more ways than one. She has written the most intimate, witty, heartbreaking, and articulate piece about her experience of becoming a new mum and being diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. Mamas talk about how you’re feeling because in some cases it could save yours or someone else’s life x [.]”

Adele included a link in her bio to Laura’s first-person blog post about her experience. In it, Laura documents what she calls “the worst time of [her] life.” “Since having my baby boy in February this year I’ve been suffering from and battling against post partem [sic] psychosis,” she began. “A rare and unpublicised illness that affects 1 in a 1000 women and is seen as a medical emergency (don’t worry I had never heard of it either until it tried to ruin my life). In my case it was built upon post-natal depression and exhaustion and escalated into a phase of what I can only describe as hell; mania, mood swings, insomnia, delusions, paranoia, anxiety, severe depression with a lovely side order of psychosis.”

She continued, “My pregnancy was a dream, I was totally prepared to be unprepared and have no history of mental illness and yet this cruel and savage sickness completely and unexpectedly swallowed me, smashed me and my family against the rocks. “

In the blog post, Laura describes a wide range of symptoms, from hiding congratulations cards to sleepless nights to mania, anxiety attacks, and thoughts of suicide . After an intervention, she spent two weeks in the hospital, and she’s currently in the midst of recovery with the help of family support, a psychiatrist, medication, and psychotherapy.

“Talking about this has been a huge part of my recovery and I was constantly searching for any stories that offered me hope or salvation in this dark and testing time so that’s why I’ve shared this and to raise awareness of this awful sickness and to confront the stigma attached to post natal depression and the pressure put on women to become mothers,” she wrote. “You have to talk. Birth and motherhood is a shock to the system and traumatic, and we shouldn’t have to suffer in silence.” You can read her full blog post here.

Related:

I Didn’t Think I Had Postpartum Depression Until It Was Gone

Adele Was Queen of the World at Her Titanic-Themed 30th-Birthday Party

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