Study Indicates Higher Incidence Of Childbirth-Related PTSD Than Previously Thought
Nearly one in 10 U.S. women who have given birth recently meet the formal criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from childbirth, according to a survey released this week by the not-for-profit maternity care group Childbirth Connection, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some medical experts say that PTSD, most commonly linked to people who have experienced violent events, can also be triggered by a painful or complicated labor and delivery in which a woman believes she or her child might die. PTSD can set in immediately or months after a traumatic event. According to the Journal, the condition often occurs when someone has experienced an event that includes actual or threatened serious injury or death and evokes intense fear or a feeling of helplessness. Symptoms of the condition can include anxiety, flashbacks and a “numbness to daily life,” the Journal reports.
