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Childbirth and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder



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Childbirth and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
By Rochelle Caviness

Childbirth can be a harrowing and physically traumatic experience. For some women, the trauma suffered during the delivery may manifest itself as a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

PTSD is a psychological disorder, which occasionally arises in some people, after they have undergone traumatic events that they perceived as being life threatening and for which they suffered from a high level of anxiety and fear.

Symptoms

There is a clear separation between post-traumatic stress and postpartum depression. While depression is associated with a loss of energy and a general feeling of sadness, whereas post-traumatic stress is often identified by intense mood swings and intense emotional outbursts. Not all women with post traumatic stress suffer from the same symptoms, however common symptoms include:

Causes

The causes of post-traumatic stress, in regard to childbirth, are not very well understood. However recent research seems to indicate that it is more a consequence of emotional feelings rather than any actual physical trauma suffered during the birth. However, physical trauma can play an important component in the occurrence of PTSD.

The emotional causes can range from:

Preventive Measures

Perhaps the two biggest means of preventing a women from suffering from PTSD after childbirth is to provide the optimum of pain control and to have everyone involved in the birth to be as supportive and understanding as possible.

Treatments

PTSD, that is associate with childbirth, has not been very well studied, in part because it appears to be rare. Consequently, treatment options are confined to counseling, behavior modification, and drug therapies – when and if the disorder is properly diagnosed.

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