“We decided that the most sensible thing was that my husband stay with our older girl while I went in to birth alone – it was a painful decisión. Our girl was asleep in the car and my husband did not want me to go in alone and carrying my bag. I told him we…
#youarenotabadmother if you have OCD, anxiety, depression, trauma or grief. You have the right to receive assistance. Mothers with psychological distress or mental health issues usually feel guilty or ashamed about reaching out for the professional help they require. Let´s offer to help – let´s care for mothers. One out of five mothers may suffer…
#youarenotabadmother if you did not enjoy your pregnancy or your birth. You have your whole life ahead of you to enjoy your child. The changes that occur in the body and brain during pregnancy, as well as health concerns or social stress, may cause many women distress – more so if circumstances are adverse or…
#youarenotabadmother if you need help after you give birth. Motherhood requires social support. The postpartum period in the human species is designed to happen within a maternal social network. Support from other mothers helps make the experience a better one and prevents psychological distress. Let´s create those networks – let´s care for mothers. If…
The first World Maternal Mental Health Day was celebrated in 2016, and is commemorated every year in the first Wednesday of May – this year, May 6th 2020. World Maternal Mental Health Day was launched to raise awareness about mental health problems in the perinatal period, so as to encourage women to seek…
by Ibnoe Olza, perinatal psychiatrist Dear midwife, How are you? I have spoken with several of your colleagues, others have written to me. They have told me of your feelings of frustration and impotence, of your exhaustion, of your giving of self. Of the difficult job you are facing in your birthing rooms since the…
Birth Activism and Obstetric Violence: Interview with Ibone Olza by Elena Skoko I met Ibone at my first meeting of the COST Action BIRTH in Lancaster (UK) in 2015, as part of this European research project where researchers, policymakers, and activists work together to produce and disseminate scientific literature on the topic of normal or…
Fear of childbirth (FOC), also referred to as tokophobia, is related to feelings of limited capability in the face of childbirth and affects the pregnant woman’s quality of life. It is more common in nulliparous women but can also be related to earlier traumatic birth experiences. A new study, recenlty published in the Journal of…
A study published in the latest edition of Archives of Women’s Health has found that instrumental births (those requiring forceps, vacuum extraction, etc.) and cesarean sections are related to a higher number of psychological difficulties after birth – ranging from lack of adjustment to motherhood to post-traumatic stress disorder. To put these conclusions into perspective,…
According to some sources, when a woman in Sparta (Ancient Greece) hadn’t gone into labour after nine months, other women would go to her house to berate her almost violently. They would hurl all the grievances in her face that they had kept to themselves during the pregnancy and the heated exchange usually triggered the…
