When giving birth results in PTSD
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| Maria Keenan. |
But the concept of giving birth being a cause of PTSD is pretty new in Ireland. The incidence, though, is likely much more than might be thought, according to a former Cross and Passion Kilcullen pupil who became a public health nurse and midwife.
Following a year-long UK-based training course, Maria Keenan is now actively treating mothers in Ireland for stress disorder brought on by a traumatic birth experience.
Originally from Ballymore and now operating a practice from Naas, Maria says that as a midwife she saw at first hand the PTSD symptoms among some clients that clearly resulted from their experience of giving birth. She believes a 2017 estimate here that 7,500 Irish mothers have been diagnosed with Birth Trauma may be only a small representation of the actual situation.
The symptoms are very much akin to those shown in classic PTSD cases, but with specificities related to a bad birth experience. “They can be nightmares, flashbacks, sleep disturbance,” Maria says, adding that hyper-vigilance about the safety of their children, detachment from those close to them, and feelings of guilt, anger and resentment are all part of the syndrome.
She emphasises that birth trauma and its effects are not the same as post-natal depression, and there are significant differences in how each should be treated. But first there’s a ‘taboo’ to be dealt with, to get over the guilt which many women feel about their unhappiness and distress from their experience. “The guilt comes from the fact they have a healthy baby, and feel they should be happy for that. But this is a very real trauma that many women have suffered, and it deserves to be treated as such.”
It’s not just the mothers who suffer PTSD from a bad experience, it can also affect partners who may have witnessed it. Birth healthcare professionals such as nurses and midwives can also suffer from stress effects of dealing with difficult births.
Work has been going on in Britain for some 20 years on the issue, and around 6pc of women there who give birth are subsequently diagnosed with the disorder. However, it is estimated that in the UK up to 25pc more women have PTSD symptoms which go undiagnosed. It’s likely a similar situation pertains here.
Maria says there’s ‘a lack of support’ in Ireland for such women, which prompted her to learn how to help them. She trained in the Birth Trauma Resolution programme developed by psychotherapist Jenny Mullan, a course that’s the only one of its kind to be accredited by the Royal College of Midwives in the UK.
Participants are trained in use of the psychological tools to help patients ‘rewind’ their bad experience so as to make it a normal memory instead of a traumatic one. Other techniques help the client to deal with associated feelings such as shame, guilt, blame, anger, loss of confidence, and breakdown in relationships and attachment.
“Many women in this position will be told they have a healthy baby, but they can still end up with feelings of loneliness, maybe anger and resentment, and are left with the memory of a very difficult experience but people around them saying ‘you should be glad for your healthy baby’. That can just add to the loneliness that they have.”
The techniques have been refined and proven and there’s a strong body of clinical examples of successful treatment across the UK, where a number of clinics specialise in BTR. Since she completed her course, Maria has also been treating clients successfully.
“In many cases I can clear up the issue in two or three sessions. I use the techniques developed by Jenny Mullan to look at the whole sense the client has about herself — it could be their sense of community, their sense of themselves and their place in society. I set goals, and as we go through the programme I assess again and we build on small improvements. For instance, if a mother is hyper-vigilant and afraid to be separated from her baby, we build in short times away from their child, starting with maybe ten minutes, and and we can improve that aspect of her interaction. Over the treatment, he client starts to change her own perception of herself, and we see improvements in relationships, and communication with the partner, for instance. It’s really a journey into motherhood as well.”
Maria says the symptoms can be hidden or delayed, and may only surface years after the traumatic birth. “I’ve had people come to me where the birth trauma was 20 years ago, but they had never come to terms with it. It’s an area that needs more discussion and awareness in Ireland. PTSD is a diagnosable condition and women deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.”
While significant research has been going on in other jurisdictions for a decade or more, Maria says that there have only been a ‘few small studies’ in Ireland. “There’s a lot of work still to be done in the area, really.”
She has set up Birth Trauma Support Ireland, and provides her own consultations under the title of Restorative Birth Services. Both are served by Facebook pages, the former as a Group. She can be contacted on 087 9089755.
This article was originally published on the Kilcullen page of The Kildare Nationalist.
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