Carey Mulligan thinks returning to work helped her to deal with postpartum depression.

The 37-year-old actress - who has Evelyn, seven, and Wilfred, five, with musician Marcus Mumford - found that promoting her 2015 historical drama movie 'Suffragette' helped her to cope with her depression.

She shared: "It was either cancel the whole thing or just get on and do it. And that - and a combination of lots of other things, and help and support from everyone around me - was my light."

Carey plays New York Times writer Megan Twohey in the upcoming film 'She Said'.

And the actress has confessed to bonding with the journalist over their postpartum experiences.

She told Vanity Fair magazine: "Megan and I talked about that. We both shared what we had both been through, like so many women have been through."

The journalist has also heaped praise on Carey.

Megan - whose investigative reports have led to criminal convictions - said: "I felt like she really spent a lot of time with me and studied me and my family in a way in which she was able to not just portray a sense of me, but to portray this really personal and even difficult time in my life, in a very accurate and respectful way."

Meanwhile, Carey previously admitted that motherhood has changed her perspective on life.

The London-born actress confessed to taking life "a little too seriously" before she gave birth to her first child.

Asked how her life has changed since having children, Carey explained: "I think perhaps I may have taken it a little too seriously. And now, the emphasis can’t be on that, it’s on your dependents and their world. I see this is a much lighter approach."