What Is The Glory Of Motherhood?

INTRODUCTION

“Birthing is the most profound initiation to spirituality a woman can have.” – Robin Lim

“Birth is the epicentre of women’s power.” –Ani DiFranco

“Giving birth and being born brings us into the essence of creation, where the human spirit is courageous and bold and the body, a miracle of wisdom.” – Harriette Hartigan

….. And the quotes go on…

The unique power of a woman lies in her ability to conceive and give birth and this has been described as the most blissful event in her life. The glory of motherhood has been celebrated by all women since human life began on this earth with the exceptions being a rarity.

However, this study talks about the ‘not-so-talked’ aspect of motherhood, the pain, the fear, the stress, the nightmares,

The diagnostic criteria (A-F) are specified below.

Diagnostic criteria for PTSD include a history of exposure to a traumatic event, meeting two criteria and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing symptoms, and hyper-arousal symptoms.

Criterion A: stressor

The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present:

1. The person has experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others.

2. The person 's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

Criterion B: intrusive recollection

The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in at least one of the following ways:

1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions.

2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the

Despite the fact that obstetric and mental health professionals are becoming more aware of traumatic childbirth experiences and PTSD, not enough health care services are being available to women all over the world, more so in low-income countries.

Opportunities for PNPTSD symptoms to be treated adequately in time can be missed if they have not been defined as actual PTSD symptoms (S. James, 2015).

Cognitive behaviour therapy is the most commonly investigated and used mode of treatment in PNPTSD. The others are debriefing, EMDR and group psychoeducation.

• The use of CBT interventions to treat postnatal distress was investigated by Ayers et al in which this paper reported that CBT was an effective treatment for postnatal PTSD (S Ayers, McKenzie-McHarg, & Eagle, 2007).

• While most women are in the hospital during or after birth, there is an opportunity to systematically assess and screen for women at risk for developing trauma symptoms. These authors recommended a multilevel counselling approach including postnatal counselling and therapy in subsequent pregnancies (Alder, Stadlmayr, Tschudin, & Bitzer,