Birth trauma
PSYCHOLOGICAL BIRTH TRAUMA
Birth debriefing can be helpful for women who have experienced psychological or physical birth trauma. The information below can help you understand more about this. Some women don’t feel that their birth experience was so ‘bad’ that they need to use the word traumatic to describe it. It’s okay to use the term ‘distress’ rather than trauma - you should use whatever term feels right for you. There are many themes that come up: guilt, isolation, feelings of being responsible and struggles with identity or relationships. Therapy can help.
Psychological Birth Trauma
Psychological birth trauma or distress can happen for a number of reasons. Sometimes unexpected events or interventions happen, for example, a large haemorrhage, need for assisted birth such as forceps, vacuum or emergency caesarean section. Mum or baby might be very unwell, needing intensive care. Sometimes birth can be overwhelming because it’s premature, takes a long time, is very quick or simply because things don’t happen as anticipated or planned. Sometimes everything seems normal to others, but there’s still something that isn’t right.
Symptoms of birth trauma or distress can include feelings of fear, sadness or depression, helplessness, anxiety, panic attacks, guilt, crying for no apparent reason, reduced appetite, detached or emotionless. It may be distressing to think back to the birth events and triggers can include the birth stories of other people, the hospital itself or people who were there.
Getting help for psychological birth trauma
Assistance from professionals can ease the symptoms, help you process what happened in a positive way and improve relationships with your partner and your baby. Mental health issues like anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be prevented or treated by therapy, leading to improved wellbeing for women who are affected and their families. Psychologists - especially those with training in birth and newborns (perinatal) can help.