Women's experiences of living with postnatal PTSD

the mental health of new mothers is a public health concern as it is likely to have an impact on the mother herself, her close relationships and the behavioural and emotional health of her children. Post-traumatic stress disorder affects some women after childbirth.

Objective: the aim of this study was to explore how women were affected by the memories of a birth that they perceived as traumatic.

Design: in this paper the authors report the qualitative analysis of interview data from seven postnatal women reporting symptoms of PTSD. Participants were recruited from a large NHS Trust in the South West of England. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interview data collected from the seven women reporting symptoms of postnatal PTSD.

Findings: complicating factors such as relationship difficulties and pre-existing health problems appeared to contribute to postnatal post-traumatic stress disorder and some women reported difficulty expressing emotions. The study findings confirm that women value good relationships with midwives during labour.

Key conclusions and implications for practice: antenatal screening for personality traits such as alexithymia (difficulty expressing emotions) may be useful and midwives should be alert to current life events that may increase women's vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder.