Pregnancy Loss and PTSD
I read the dek even before I read the headline: “Researchers found that 18 percent of women were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder nine months after a pregnancy loss.”
It’s unpacked deeper early in the article: “According to a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, nine months after experiencing a pregnancy loss, 18 percent of women had PTSD, 17 percent had anxiety and 6 percent reported having depression.”
18% PTSD
17% anxiety
6% depression
Perhaps due to that overwhelming message from society: Just get over it.
The ultimate quote from the article:
“We have a problem on our hands that we haven’t up until now properly acknowledged or looked to treat,” she said.
In other words, no follow up. No return visits to check on emotional well-being. No protocol to follow beyond suggesting another cycle. This study made me angry because it brought up so much that is wrong in medical world when it comes to women’s bodies.
5 comments
I 100% agree with your feelings and comments on this. Many of the women I dealt with for ten years on the ectopic pregnancy trust site suffered from symptoms indistinguishable from PTSD. Many of them had come within an hour or two of dying, often due to misdiagnosis (for example, told “it’s only a miscarriage” or sent away from the ER without even a pregnancy test or scan) or neglect. Yet they (we) were all told that “at least we could get pregnant” and could “try again” or that they had “never had anything to actually lose,” etc, and no follow up was given, no support, and they often had to fight for early investigations in their next pregnancies, after going through that trauma. It is infuriating.
Living in Adoption World for so long now, I am amazed at all things reproductive that we just expected people (women, esp) to just “get over.”
How could anyone believe that such big losses were nothing? It’s baffling.
I’m still pissed that my OB/GYN’s office didn’t update my records to reflect a miscarriage, and I got the “oh, you’re supposed to be 20 weeks…um…oh.” I suppose one version of PTSD is carrying a lifelong grudge. (Fortunately, I switched to another doctor during the 14th week of my successful pregnancy.)
Thanks for sharing. I really hope this will change in the future and women will be given the support they need.
“No s**t, Sherlock” — right?? (eyeroll) And I daresay some (many?) of these women are still feeling those things a lot longer than 9 months later. I’m glad the lightbulb is finally starting to click on for some of these medical professionals on this very important subject.