Could it be true that one in every twenty new mothers is diagnosed with traumatic stress after childbirth? This is just one of the many alarming BOLD points Sheila Kitzinger makes in her hard-hitting book, Birth Crisis, a book that explores women’s experiences giving birth and their resulting anxiety.

Birth Crisis is not an easy book to read. Kitzinger tells readers that “women in childbirth are treated like products on a factory conveyor belt,” “like ‘meat on a table’, or ‘an oven-trussed turkey.” She also claims women suffer from institutionalized violence in childbirth. These aren’t easy “pills” to swallow. But in addition to backing up her assertions with research, Kitzinger, a leading authority on childbirth who is based in the UK, knows much of the information she presents first-hand as the founder of The Birth Crisis Network, a phone hotline set up in the UK to listen to women who need to process a traumatic birth experience (for more information on The Birth Crisis Network go to: http://www.sheilakitzinger.com/Birth%20Crisis.htm).

After listening to hundreds of birth stories I have often wondered what makes a birth a good experience and what makes it not-so-good (or even worse, traumatic). I’ve heard two women tell virtually the same birth story and one is at peace with the outcome and the other is traumatized and often haunted by the experience. Kitzinger’s book gave me the explanation I’ve been searching for. She writes:

“…it does not follow automatically that a woman who has an intervention will be distressed after birth. The quality of relationships with her caregivers is what matters most.”

Kitzinger writes that fragmented maternity care (ie, nurses on shifts), which is standard in hospitals, results in care that often lacks sustained compassion and this alone is a critical piece that is lacking today in childbirth.

Kitzinger insists many women who go to visit their doctors after giving birth and are told they are depressed when in fact they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This distinction that she makes has serious implications in how we medically treat mothers who are distressed after childbirth and what kind of reform is necessary so our maternity care systems offer mothers sensitive and compassionate care.

This book is more than just a jolting slam on maternity care today, it also offers strategies for mothers to move forward after a traumatic birth. Kitzinger is a strong advocate for not giving women advice, but rather offering ways mothers can work out their own plan for healing after a traumatic birth. Hip, hip hooray…a book that’s puts mothers at the centre.

Sheila Kitzinger’s Birth Crisis may be a hard read, but having the courage to read this book will give you a perspective on birth that embodies BOLD’s cornerstones: education, truth, and action.

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