Birth Trauma - Insight Matters

For the majority of women childbirth, though painful, is usually a positive experience. Unfortunately, for some, it can be a difficult and upsetting process and a small number of women who have had a distressing childbirth go on to develop symptoms of trauma known as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This can involve:

Intense anxiety reactions when reminded of giving birth
Recurring, overwhelming flashbacks, memories, thoughts or nightmares about the birth
Not wanting to talk about the event or talking about it obsessively
Avoidance of situations that trigger memories of giving birth
Feeling very angry, anxious and/or depressed

What causes birth trauma?

Women can feel traumatised after being faced with the possibility of death or serious harm to themselves or the baby during birth. They may have felt hopeless without any sense of control over events and didn’t have the birth experience they had hoped for.

There are a number of factors that could lead to birth trauma:

An extremely long, painful and distressing labour and/or birth
Needing a lot of medical intervention
Fears for your own or the baby’s safety
Feeling like you weren’t listened to or told what was happening
Previous trauma as a child, adult or during pregnancy/birth

Issues that arise from Birth Trauma

Fear of sex and further childbirth
Avoidance of medical procedures or health care e.g. smear tests
Problems bonding with the baby
Depression and low self-esteem
Over vigilance about baby’s health

How can Counselling help you?

Different counselling techniques are used to address each of these symptoms in turn while also helping you to process the underlying trauma which has brought them about. This helps to release the painful emotions that are at the root of your experience and which are stored in your mind and body memory. Once released negative thinking can be re-formulated and integrated back into your psyche.

Resourcing is used to connect you to a calm, grounded, relaxed part of yourself (found in your body). This is important because it helps you to calm your amygdala (which regulates emotional reactivity) when triggered and move you out of the fight-flight-freeze mode and back into your relaxed nervous system.

Call us now on 01 891 0703 or email info@insightmatters.ie for a confidential discussion and initial assessment with one of our senior therapists. Alternatively please fill in the online booking form below and we will contact you within 24 hours.

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