PTSD and Childbirth

Motherhood - Salon.com

This article argues that PtSD comes of a situation in which you're afraid you're going to die. Then it argues that probably mothers never used to get PTSD but now we do because a terrible outcome - the mother dying - is very uncommon these days. However I would argue that this is likely an error, and that PTSD has always been part of childbirth for some of the mothers who survived it, and that it was MORE common, not less, for those who gave birth during any other era but our own. The risk of dying in childbirth was as high as 10% before the modern era; and on top of that was the risk of living but being crippled by it. If PTSD comes of a traumatic event in which the victim has no control, and fears loss of life, why wouldn't childbirth fit the bill? That was exactly the situation in which women found themselves.

But we're not supposed to think that PTSD could result from childbirth because only warriors get PTSD; women are doing something 'natural', which translates - at least for those who haven't done it - as "miraculously easy" - if it isn't, you should feel guilty because you're doing it wrong. As if childbirth does not involve pain, uncertainty and fear, which must be met, just like battle, with submission to circumstances, courage and will.

But no. Only heroes get PTSD, and women risking their lives in childbirth don't get called heroes. So we can't admit that they might have PTSD.