Not to put childbirth down in any way but this is just ridiculous. By the reasoning put forward in this article - PTSD could also apply to a child's nightmare, or a childs fall from a bicycle? I wonder how many women had another child after their first? Did it scar them for life? Did this traumatic experience also make men repulsive to them? This article and study is very misleading in the very nature of it being so short and with such a infiniteismal study group (89). My wife had a good chuckle. The only part she had any agreemnet with to an extent was the -helplessness-, but only partially. She said that when she became pregnant she did not need a doctor to tell she was. She knew. The birthing pain was there, (it took a while for my hand to recover) but all through it she said she had this feeling of renewal in life itself. We will not go into the -helplessness- I felt at the time of birth.
Continuing with these - researchers definition - we could also put those who live in ghettos in this category.
"The required criteria include experiencing, witnessing or confronting an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others. In addition, the persons response must involve intense fear, helplessness, or horror."
Yes sir that pretty much covers at least 90% of those living there. The other 10% are the ones creating and propagating these conditions. And how about those living in the 3rd world countries, or in the jungles of Africa or South America or lost in the desert or a winter blizzard. How far are we supposed to carry this and other such scenarios? Technically it could be used on all of them. So I guess the solution to preventing this grave problem is to stop women from giving birth and go totally invitro? ie artificial womb? Ahhh but one must first harvest the egg and sperm, this could also be considered possibly having the same results. What a dilemma, need more research.
Why not focus on real problems for real cures.
Enough said
Just my 2 cents worth.
A new study from Israeli researchers puts childbirth in the company of war, rape, and natural disasters as a common cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (pdf).
Not exactly the reference frame we’d like to give our entrance into the world, but the authors write that for mothers the birthing experience can easily conform to the the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for PTSD:
The required criteria include experiencing, witnessing or confronting an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others. In addition, the person’s response must involve intense fear, helplessness, or horror.
That last criteria is clearly a matter of experience, but the researchers found that more than a third of the women they studied showed at least symptoms of PTSD. Women with PTSD symptoms after delivery were more likely to have experienced:
- vaginal delivery
- fewer analgesics with stronger reported pain
- more discomfort with feeling exposed while giving birth
- stronger feelings of danger
- higher rates of not wanting additional children
Granted, the study had a disappointingly low sample size - only 89 women - but it brings two main thoughts to my mind. One, I’m grateful to these researchers for acknowledging childbirth as a challenging, sometimes traumatic event. Two, I’m concerned with the effects of birthing trauma could have on a baby’s future development, similar to the way that pregnancy stress has been show to negatively impact growth and function (pdf).
What can we do to make delivery less terrible? Better pain management? More personal birthing settings? Better pre-birth counseling? Let us know what you think in our comments section below.
Photo: Nathan Beier/Flickr
