Birth Trauma Therapy: What Does it Look Like?
Birth Trauma Therapy in Ottawa
You might have been told that you have what is called “birth trauma” or you could have spent quite some time on the internet researching your symptoms and finding out that your birth experience has been traumatic. I first want to tell you that you didn’t do ANYTHING to deserve this and it is absolutely NOT your fault how things turned out.
Postpartum moms in the Ottawa area come to me when they experience intense anxiety around their baby’s safety, around their health, around sleep, and when night time comes because of the vivd and gory nightmares. This is the tip of the iceberg, because when we dig a bit further, we come to the realization that the body is holding on to traumatic memories from the birthing experience.
I treat symptoms of birth trauma mainly using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy, a somatic-based approach to treat trauma. When going through a physically demanding event, such as giving birth, the body holds on to the memory of whatever made it feel uncomfortable or unsafe. If there were medical complications during birth or if, because of past sexual abuse, your body felt like it needed to go into survival mode, you can’t just think happy thoughts and hope to feel relief.
We need to treat the body because that’s where your birth trauma is stored. That’s why I choose to use EMDR Therapy as the main approach to treating birth trauma: it works directly on the nervous system to help it get out of fight/flight/freeze/fawn mode so that new connections can take place. These connections are mostly those of safety, confidence, and self-compassion.
Postpartum moms in the Ottawa area and in Ontario can access birth trauma therapy with me in person and online. EMDR is perfectly safe and effective both online and in person.
If you’re interested in knowing more about how your birth trauma symptoms can be treated, I invite you to click below to schedule a free consultation. I can’t wait to be a part of your healing journey!
