Do you work in the birth world?
If you do, you will be well aware that there is a huge amount of birth trauma out there. According to The Birth Trauma Association, Research shows that about 4-5% of women experience PTSD after birth – that’s about 25,000-30,000 a year in the UK. This is only the people we KNOW about. Many more will be suffering from PTSD symptoms and many, many more will have experienced a birth that they will have experienced as traumatic and they find difficult to move past… and we haven’t even mentioned the partners, doulas or midwives who might also be experiencing sypmptoms after witnessing a birth they might have found traumatic.
Have you spoken to clients who have experienced any of the following:
Do they find it difficult talking about their birth?
Do they laugh off their disastrous birth experience, claiming you couldn’t make it up if you tried, it was one thing after another?
Are they justifying their negative experiences with phrases such as ‘At least the baby’s ok, that’s all that matters’?
If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, chances are they have had a difficult birth experience and whilst it is totally normal to feel this way about their baby’s birth, it is NOT ok to feel this way. It’s especially not ok if they are finding theri negative thoughts are:
- Intrusive
- Affect the way they interact with their baby and others around them
- Are affecting how they feel about the birth of their 2nd or subsequent baby
- Are preventing them from trying for another baby
- Making them feel anxious in any way