After a traumatic birth, a mother will need time to recover, and meditation can help to aid this process by offering a safe outlet for a mother to relax and process the emotions around the event. Birth trauma can cause deep and lasting scars if left untreated, but confronting it can help mothers overcome it and move beyond the incident that caused it. Learning how to harness the power of meditation to do this can transform a new mother’s life and be an important practice on the road to a full recovery.
What is Birth Trauma?
After traumatic childbirth, a mother can experience a sense of trauma and guilt that arises from PTSD around the incident. Birth trauma has several common symptoms including the following:
- Flashbacks or nightmares of the incident
- Avoidance of the source of the trauma
- Hypervigilance and alertness
- Catastrophizing
- Negative cognition
Birth trauma doesn’t affect every woman who had a traumatic birth, but there are some risk factors that can make it more likely that a woman experiences it. Check out Kaia Ra Oracle for more information.
What Are Causes of Birth Trauma?
Traumatic births often occur when it appears as if a mother, her child, or both face a near-death situation during the birthing process, such as sudden massive blood loss or the infant’s heart rate slowing dramatically. However, birth trauma can also occur in situations where a woman feels as if she has lost control of her body or dignity or experiences some other psychological trigger. These instances may be coincident with a birth injury that affected the newborn, making it important for mothers experiencing birth trauma to also consult with a birth injury lawyer group.
How Meditation to Can Help Mothers Overcome Birth Trauma
Many of the contributing factors that can lead to birth trauma or make it worse in those that have it are also targeted by meditation. During meditation, a mother can experience relief in both mind and body. Meditation can bring several known health benefits, including the following:
- Stress and anxiety relief
- Improved attention span
- Potential to lower blood pressure
- Mood improvement
- Better sleep
While it’s important not to overstate the potential benefits of meditation, the scientific literature does point to its potential effectiveness in alleviating the above conditions, many of which mothers with birth trauma also face. Many mothers who experience birth trauma also suffer from postnatal depression (PND), which shares many of the symptoms.
How is Birth Trauma Related to Postnatal Depression?
Postnatal depression (PND) shares some outward similarities with birth trauma but is an entirely different condition that requires a different course of treatment. While some women do experience both, unfortunately, doctors often misdiagnose women who have birth trauma with PND. This means that women often receive medical treatment that doesn’t help them and which may actually cause harm. A sense of guilt can be common to both, which can impact the way a mother interacts with her new child and hampers her ability to recover.
Are There Dangers to Meditation?
While meditation does bring many distinct benefits, there are potential dangers as well depending on the individual. Some people who begin meditation report negative experiences, as their minds can focus on negative emotions and actually amplify them. It’s important to monitor your emotions and even speak with a medical provider before beginning meditation to see if it’s the right option for you.
Birth trauma doesn’t have to control your life and meditation presents a unique way to help manage it. Exploring your options to begin meditation could help you to improve your quality of life even after you’ve experienced trauma.
Katherine Webre is a passionate writer with years of experience in legal. She has dedicated her career to represent the most vulnerable among us, children who have suffered severe injustice. Beyond legal action, Katherine also takes up the pen to raise awareness and inform audiences about birth injuries. By sharing her expertise, she hopes to empower people to act against any prejudice and works as a collaborative editor for Birth Injury Lawyer.