Childbirth and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Tundraco's Daily Living Guide to Pregnancy

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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).

According to Dr. J. Laurence Reynolds, in an article which appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, there are two main causes for PTSD in women who have gone through the child birthing process. These are severe pain and a sense that they have lost control. However, even a woman who goes through a non-traumatic birth, may still suffer from post-traumatic stress.

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.

Although PTSD is mostly associated with war veterans and their experiences, PTSD can arise from any of number of causes including rape, kidnapping, abuse, bullying, miscarriage, and pregnancy.
People who develop PTSD have the tendency to remain fixated on specific events long after they have occurred and often replay the event in their minds.
Having suffered through a previous traumatic event can predispose a woman to suffer from PTSD after having a baby.

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:

Fear
Flash-backs to the birth
Nightmares
Intense-anxiety, especially when thinking about the birth.
Increased heart rate
Shaking, dizziness and sweating can also occur.

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:

Fear leading up to, and during the actual birth.
Feelings of being out of control, induced by being subjected to forces (labor) over which the woman has no control. This can be further acerbated by the position that many women give birth in, i.e., legs in stirrups, that impedes their movements and ability to give birth in a manner they may feel more comfortable in.
The medical equipment used, such as IV lines, may also make some women feel trapped, which increases their feelings that they have lost all control over the situation and therefore may suffer from intense feelings of helplessness and terror.
They can suffer from a sense of abandonment if their 'significant other' does not assist in the birthing process or if the father has abandoned her.
An unplanned pregnancy may also engender fear.
Studies also indicate that women who have an episiotomy are more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress, both due to fear and from actual pain.

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.

Preventing the occurrence of PTSD can also be aided by taking a thorough medical history to screen for past traumatic instances that might give rise to problems after the birth. If the women's history indicates a potential for the development of PTSD, preventive counseling may help alleviate any problems.

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.

One apparently effective treatment is to provide caesarian sections to women who are intensely fearful of going through a natural birth.
As more information becomes available about the disorder, treatment options are likely to expand.
Change is already on the way in some areas. In England, post-delivery stress clinics have opened to provide support and care for women after delivery.

The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only.

Always consult your doctor for medical advice.

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