BIRTH TRAUMA SPECIALIST
Understanding Birth Trauma
for Women/People & Partners
At times having an opportunity to share your story, be genuinely listened to and acknowledged can significantly aid your recovery. However, there are times were individuals may continue to experience debilitating effects and symptoms from events necessitating specialist treatment to resolve these challenges.
If you or a family member continue to struggle with your feelings around what happened to you in pregnancy, birth or beyond then PLEASE GET IN TOUCH
Flashbacks
&
Nightmares
Flashbacks and Nightmares about your pregnancy, birth or postnatal experience which can be so realistic that you feel as though you are actually re-living the experience over again.
Avoidance
of any situation, place, person or object that might remind you of what happened.
Unable to think or talk about your experience
Low Mood
Often diagnosed as Postnatal depression
Feeling detached from a range of emotions such as love, caring or appropriate sadness or anger
Feeling Detached
Irritability and inappropriate outbursts of
Anger
Being constantly ‘on guard’ or feeling in danger often known as
Hypervigilance
Persistent feelings of fear or
Anxiety, Overwhelm
& Panic Attacks
Understanding Birth Trauma
for Maternity Professionals
There is increasing evidence that if we do not nurture and care for our staff or support them when they witness trauma this will have an impact on their ability to provide passionate and sensitive care for families.
Midwives have reported burnout due to work and high levels of stress, anxiety and depression. (WHELM study 2018/Hunter 2019).
Two in three obstetricians reported traumatic work-related events with lower levels of job satisfaction (BJOG 2020).
BURNOUT
Burn out syndrome is defined as a chronic negative work related psychological state. It is composed of high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalisation or lack of empathy with women/families and a negative work attitude or low self-esteem due to unrewarding situations which affect professional performance.
MORAL
INJURY
Health care workers usually enter their profession to provide the best possible care. This is their moral code and professional values.
If there is a lack of resources, organisational issues and toxic working cultures this moral code can be shattered by making decisions that conflict with their professional values.
TRAUMA
&
STS
Listening to or witnessing traumatic perinatal events can create psychological distress in staff and lead to secondary traumatic stress or vicarious trauma. This is stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatised or suffering person.
Some staff may have their own personal risk factors that increase their susceptibility to STS.