Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder that can be experienced following a traumatic birth.
PTSD can be brought on straight after the birth or weeks, months or years later.
It is important to get help and advice for PTSD. Symptoms include:
- flashbacks to the experience
- nightmares about the experience
- repetitive and distressing images or sensations
- physical sensations such as pain, sweating, feeling sick (nausea) or trembling
- constant negative thoughts about the experience
- trying to feel nothing at all (emotional numbing) and trying to distract yourself to avoid thinking about what happened
- avoiding places, people or other things that remind you of the traumatic event
- watching out for danger or threats and being easily startled
- anxiety
- irritability
- difficulty concentrating
- angry outbursts
- sleeping problems
- headaches
- stomach pain
- difficulty to bonding with the baby.
