Birth Trauma Recovery: Part Two

Birth trauma can be a risk factor for perinatal mood disorders. Help is available.

In Part One, we explored Betty’s traumatic childbirth experience. In this section, we look at how trauma-informed therapy supported her healing.

Betty’s husband helped her find a therapist trained in trauma and perinatal mood disorders. She was fortunate to have practical support — family childcare assistance and extended time off work. Not all women have these resources, and the presence or absence of support can significantly influence recovery.

Establishing Safety

Betty approached therapy cautiously. Like many trauma survivors, she feared that talking about the birth might feel re-traumatizing. Her therapist emphasized that treatment would move at Betty’s pace. Establishing safety and choice is essential in trauma therapy.

The early sessions focused on assessment and stabilization.

Creating a space of safety and acceptance is essential in trauma therapy. The therapist was warm and welcoming and discussed with Betty that the therapy would move at her pace and be mindful of not overwhelming her.

The therapist let Betty know she was in charge of her readiness to face her trauma and of the pace of the work. The first session was an intake session, where her therapist asked about why she was currently seeking counseling, her past psychiatric history and her general family, work and living situation.

Getting to know a client takes a while and the intake work goes on as the therapy progresses. As Betty recounted the sequence of her birth trauma, she felt as if it was therapeutic, as she it was difficult to talk in depth to her family and husband about it. They, too, were upset by the events. Part of session was spent discussing the emotional and psychological picture that is the aftermath of trauma.

Nervous System Regulation

Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) was introduced early to help restore regulation. Rather than reliving the trauma intensely, Betty learned to notice subtle body sensations and gently shift between activation and calm.

SE® was woven into each session, helping her return to her body and rebuild a sense of internal safety.

Over time, her nervous system began to settle within a more stable window of tolerance. The dramatic highs and lows became less overwhelming.

As the trauma sessions moved forward, other therapeutic interventions used were expressive art therapy, which helped depict timelines, fuzzy emotions and thoughts in such a way that could be more concretely discussed and felt. SE® was used in every session, to bring her back to her body and explore her nervous system in its resting and stressed states.

Deepening the Somatic Work

As Betty’s nervous system became more stable, the therapy gradually shifted toward gently renegotiating the traumatic birth experience itself.

Rather than revisiting the event in a linear, detailed way, the work focused on small pieces of the experience — a sensation, a moment of fear, a memory of the hospital room — always returning to safety and regulation.

Through Somatic Experiencing®, Betty began to notice where fear lived in her body and how quickly her system moved into contraction. With careful pacing and titration, she was able to stay present with parts of the memory without becoming overwhelmed.

Many women who survive traumatic childbirth experience elements of the freeze response — emotional numbing, dissociation, or a sense of watching events from outside their body. In SE®, this freeze response is approached gently. The goal is not to “break through” it, but to allow the nervous system to complete what was interrupted during the traumatic event.

Over time, the intensity of the trauma response softened. The physiological charge connected to the hemorrhage, the surgery, and the loss of her uterus began to release. What had once felt immediate and consuming gradually became a memory rather than a re-experiencing.

Expressive and Supportive Therapies

Expressive art therapy helped Betty create visual timelines and externalize emotions that felt difficult to articulate.

Outside of therapy, she gradually incorporated supportive lifestyle practices:

• Gentle exercise

• Yoga

• Brief daily mindfulness pauses

• Restorative body-based therapies

  
  

These practices supported nervous system regulation but did not replace trauma therapy.

Betty also incorporated supportive practices that helped reinforce nervous system regulation -- gentle movement, yoga, brief mindfulness pauses, and consistent rest.

Trauma Recovery

Birth trauma recovery involves more than understanding what happened. It involves restoring safety within the body. When the nervous system regains flexibility, emotional healing becomes possible.

Healing unfolds at its own pace. There is no competition and no deadline.