Birth trauma and relationships

A JCU researcher is investigating the link between psychological trauma experienced by women giving birth and their subsequent relationship styles – and she wants to hear from women who’ve given birth in the past two years.

Melissa Freestun is a practicing psychologist and PhD student at James Cook University. She said for most women childbirth is a positive and transformative experience, but for some childbirth can be confronting and traumatic.

“Birth trauma has become more prevalent, particularly over the past ten years. In Australia, studies have found that about one-third of women describe their childbirth experience as traumatic, with between 5-6 % meeting the diagnostic criteria for acute post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” said Ms Freestun.

She said the effects of birth trauma are significant, impacting the mother, non-birthing partner, infant and the entire family unit.

“My research is looking at a possible connection between psychological birth trauma and adult attachment (relationship) styles - and further into my research - whether there is a way to reduce childbirth related trauma through enhancing relationship security,” said Ms Freestun.

She said the research will examine whether rates of psychological birth trauma can be mitigated by enhancing the relationship between the birthing mother and her midwife/maternity care provider.

“To begin this research, we need to collect some baseline data on the connection between relationship styles and birthing experiences,” said Ms Freestun.

She said the team is looking to talk to women 18 or older who gave birth vaginally in Australia within the past two years (at 37+ weeks), and whose baby didn’t require intensive or special care.

“It’s a 30-minute, completely anonymous online survey. We ask about your background, your relationship style, how you felt about your birth experience and whether any part of the birth felt traumatic,” said Ms Freestun.

People who would like to take part can access the survey here