Birth trauma is very real. A traumatic event is defined as the development of disabling psychological symptoms following a traumatic event. Traumatic events produce intense fear, terror and feelings of helplessness.
These symptoms cause significant distress or impairment and involve struggling to cope with the baby or relationships.
Symptoms of Birth Trauma
There are a variety of symptoms that you could experience if you have birth trauma, e.g:
- Nightmares
- Flashbacks: Feeling or acting as though the trauma were occurring over again
- Avoidance: E.g. avoiding activities associated with the birth – such as talking to pregnant women.
- Emotional numbness: Being out of touch with feelings.
- Difficulties with sleeping and concentration.
- Frustration and anger: Getting angry very easily, feeling irritable and hyper vigilant.
Birth trauma comes in many forms:
- Unexpected outcomes such as: An emergency Caesarean Section, excessive blood loss, baby requiring intensive care, baby loss.
- Dissatisfaction with care from maternity practitioner: Lack of opportunity for informed decision making and consent, not listening to the mother, insensitive, disrespectful care.
- Poor pain management
- Physical damage resulting from the birth process
- Triggering of a past abuse experience
- Premature baby: Having a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) can be very overwhelming and potentially traumatic. Leslie Butterfield (PhD, Vice President of Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth – PATTCh) says that research indicates that between 15 to 53% of mothers with babies in the NICU may suffer from PTSD.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Some woman get diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after giving birth. PTSD means the woman experiences severe symptoms of birth trauma that continues to impair her daily functioning and could impact her ability to bond with her baby. The prevalence of PTSD after child birth ranges from 2-6% (PADA NZ, 2017). The number of births in New Zealand was 59,610 in 2017. This means that between 1192 and 3036 women a year may develop PTSD. The percentage of women who do not meet the clinical criteria for PTSD, but who have some of the symptoms of PTSD after childbirth, could be between 20 and 30%. This implies that as many as 17,883 more women may feel traumatized by childbirth and have some of the symptoms of PTSD. PTSD can be acute (continues for one to three months after the event), chronic (continues longer than three months) or of delayed onset (showing first symptoms six months after the event).
There is hope
Individuals who experience birth trauma often feel very lonely, alienated and misunderstood. Consequently they start to doubt themselves, feel unmotivated and experience failure. They often feel that they were not just robbed of the birth experience that they had hoped for, but that that the birth experience continues to haunt them. Birth trauma can contribute to depression, anxiety, relationship stress and make it more challenging to bond with one’s baby.
Birth trauma is a very individual experience and is influenced not just by the birth event itself, but also by one’s perception, expectations, life experiences and beliefs. Individuals who experienced birth trauma benefit from:
- Being in a safe and caring environment.
- Debriefing: e.g. talking to a family member or friend, their midwife or other health professional.
- Reflecting: e.g. expressing their experiences, feelings and thoughts in writing, poetry, music or art.
Many women feel empowered when they do some of their reflection and healing in a small group. The shared experiences facilitate the healing process and help women to feel safe and accepted. Group attendees feel connected and they feel that their feelings and experiences are acknowledged.