By: Ben McEachen
The birth of a child is an incredible moment of new life, joy and potential.
For one in three Australian parents, though, it also can be the painful, distressing beginning of birth trauma.
In late May, the NSW State Parliament’s Special Inquiry on Birth Trauma released its findings and recommendations, based on more than 4000 submissions.
Amelia Walker is Program Clinician with The Gidget Foundation Australia, supporting and counselling parents with perinatal anxiety and depression.
Aligning with the Special Inquiry’s findings, Gidget Foundation research found that more than half of Australian mums reported unexpected distress during labour.
About 80 per cent of Australian mums said they were not prepared for all of labour’s physical complications.
“Birth trauma can impact one in three parents,” Amelia said in our interview. “It is a prevalent issue.
“The [Special] Inquiry took place in order to give voice to those who have lived experience of birth trauma and, hopefully, to make changes to how people and parents manage during and post their birth experience.”
What is birth trauma?
“Birth trauma is either a physical injury that might occur during or after the birth, or a psychological injury such as shock,” Amelia said.
The latter form of birth trauma “can be easily missed”, due to being harder to pinpoint or diagnose.
“Birth trauma can be… something that can be medically repaired,” Amelia said, “but not necessarily emotionally responded to.”
The definition of birth trauma is broad, covering a spectrum of factors. Affecting women and men, birth trauma can be caused by stillbirth or miscarriage, medical intervention or lack of relevant information or agency.
What causes birth trauma depends upon the person involved and the situations they encounter during the birth process (or afterwards).
The difference between the birth process and birth trauma
Helping to understand birth trauma is the contrast with the birth process itself.
We know that the birth process is inherently painful, as well as being physically, emotionally and psychologically challenging.
“The difference with a birth trauma is how we may feel about the [birth] experience,” Amelia said.
“One person’s experience might be very different to another’s. We really want to acknowledge the individual and how they experience something.”
Amelia said the variable nature of birth trauma can make it difficult to recognise, including by the parent experiencing it.
“If someone is dismissed or misdiagnosed by a medical professional – or doesn’t feel understood by their partner or loved ones – they can feel real shame or isolation. This adds to the person’s suffering.
Preventing birth trauma
Given the individual or often unpredictable factors which can cause birth trauma, Amelia said that being able to prevent it requires education, preparation and more support.
Amelia said Australians seem educated about “what a ‘normal’ or ‘expected’ birth looks like”.
“But we are not always told about the potential for complications or variability of the birthing experience,” she said.
As testimonies at the Special Inquiry affirm, medical professionals also need to be educated about birth trauma.
“Medical professionals are only really coming to grips with now, in understanding their response to different parents’ experiences,” Amelia said. How someone’s experience is responded to will impact how deeply that trauma may impact that parent.”
The Select Inquiry “recommended the need for comprehensive antenatal education, a review of laws around informed consent, and a requirement for maternity health practitioners to undergo formal training in this area“.
Another recommendation was “greater investment in mental health support and postpartum services“.
Amelia and The Gidget Foundation Australia agree.
Applauding the 10-session Mental Health Plan available through Medicare, Amelia called for the Federal Government to extend the amount of free support provided to parents with birth trauma.
“We need longer intervention… so that parents can fully process birth trauma,” Amelia said.
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash