Know your options
Healing will come.
Be aware that healing takes time but it will come with the right support. Trauma usually requires weekly sessions over several months. This video here explains what happens in a traumatised brain. We recommend watching it. You might find it helpful to understand different treatment options better.
Treatment options
Recommended by NICE
These are some of the main forms of treatment available recommended for PTSD and trauma by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE):
Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT). You learn to identify and challenge negative thoughts related to your traumatic experience. It helps you process bad memories. It helps you understand how your behaviour or the way you deal with emotions might be unhelpful. You learn what is helpful instead. Part of CBT is Compassion focused therapy. You address feelings of guilt and shame that comefrom your trauma. It helps you to become kinder and more compassionate with yourself.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Another NICE recommended therapy for
PTSD and trauma. Read more about EMDR in this mum’s blog post here. She explains: “When you have PTSD, your traumatic memories are stuck in the ‘present’ part of your brain and not filed away in the ‘past’ like other memories are. The therapy aims to get you to reprocess the memories so they can be properly filed. This is done by revisiting the traumatic memories while generating a ‘rhythmic stimulus’. Sometimes that’s eye movements from side to side following your therapist’s fingers, but tapping is also used.”
Medication. Your therapist can prescribe you antidepressants. The most common ones for PTSD and trauma symptoms are Paroxetine and Sertraline.
Dr Jan Smith, Chartered Psychologist says:
“Treatment for trauma needs to be holistic and developed collaboratively with each woman to provide a unique mix of care.”
Other tools
A list of ideas.
Alongside NICE recommended treatment options there are other things you can do that can be helpful to your healing. Know these are not all as evidence-based but we have heard from many people it benefited them a lot:
Somatic therapy. You focus on how the body reacts during a traumatic experience. It helps you lower your body’s arousal level when you think about the traumatic event.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also known as tapping or psychological acupressure. You tap on meridian points of your body with your fingertips. This is supposed to restore the balance of energy to resolve physical and emotional issues.
Psychoeducation. You learn about how birth trauma affects your brain and body and why you have the symptoms you do.
Grounding techniques. You learn to bring yourself back to the present if you are experiencing a flashback or distressing images.
Learning relaxation and breathing techniques. This helps lower your body’s reaction to the trauma.
Writing down your birth story, your feelings or writing a letter to key people in the process (midwives, partners, doctors). It helps make better sense of your experience. If you’d like to share your birth story on our platform, please visit here.
Drawing, painting, poetry or journaling your experiences as a way of healing.
Speaking with empathic others about what you went through.
Focusing on your wellbeing through things like additional sleep or naps, yoga, massage, eating well, going for walks or exercise.
Find support online, like a support group where you can share your experiences. On Facebook, the Birth Trauma Association has a peer support group. Netmums has a forum for support. For those affected by Postpartum Psychosis, which you can sometimes develop after a traumatic birth or pregnancy, Action on Postpartum Psychosis has an online support forum. The Miscarriage Association has a support group on Facebook, a forum and a helpline. Look here for the support options that SANDS (Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths) offer. On Twitter @mentalhealth_hr is a Mental Health Platform featuring pop up live Q&A's with guest tweeters, latest news & all things mental health.
Going to a debriefing service at your hospital where you can review your medical birth notes with a midwife. Please be aware that this experience could bring back memories and emotions so please go gently.
Herbal Supplements. St John’s Wort and CBD (Cannabidiol) have proven effective to some people.
Writing a letter of complaint to your hospital. You can read more about how to do this in Step 4 of our Step By Step guide.
