The experience of childbirth for survivors of incest

Influence of childhood sexual abuse on pregnancy, delivery, and the early postpartum period in adult women

“…Of the 43 published manuscripts, 24 [1,2,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51]56,57,59,61,64,65,[67][68][69][70][71]73,74,77] focused on the association of CSA experiences and pregnancy in later life. Of these 24 publications, original data were present in 10 studies [1,44 -51,56].…”

“…Of the 43 eligible studies, 21 presented original data [1,18,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58], six were systematic and nonsystematic reviews [2,59 -63], seven were clinical experiences from medical health professionals dealing with pregnant women or specialists for preparation of labor [64 -69,79], three were personal experiences from women with CSA experiences [70 -72], and five others [73][74][75][76][77][78]80]. Of the original studies, one focused on unwanted pregnancies [58], and in two there was no differentiation between childhood and adult abuse experiences [18,57].…”

The impact of Childbirth experiences on women's sense of self: A review of the literature

“…For women who are survivors of sexual abuse or women who have complications during labour, an altered state may be achieved for ego defence purposes to decrease awareness of negative bodily sensations and to thereby gain control of their situation (Bass & Davis, 1988;Berg & Dahlberg, 1998;Christensen, 1992;Gray, 1992;Parratt, 1994;Rose, 1992;Taylor, 1995). A negative altered conscious state can also occur, to varying degrees, when attendants do not behave ethically, as people who are in these deeply altered states are highly vulnerable and suggestible (Taylor, 1995).…”

Refusing to be Marginalized: Groupwork in Mental Health Services for Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

“…Childhood sexual abuse has also been found to be associated with subsequent severe self-harm (Briere, 1992;Hall and Lloyd, 1993;Arnold, 1994;Van der Kolk, Perry and Herman, 1991); substance abuse (Rose, 1991); severe eating difficulties (Oppenheimer et al, 1985;Sloane and Leichner, 1986;Wooley, 1994;Toon, 1995) and obsessional and compulsive difficulties (Hall and Lloyd, 1993). Difficulties experienced as a result of childhood sexual abuse during pregnancy, at childbirth and post-natally including post natal depression have recently been identified (Courtois and Riley, 1992;Kitzinger, 1992;Parratt, 1994;Rhodes and Goering, 1994;Rose, 1992;Grimwood, 1996).…”

“…The processes whereby individual women come to internalize blame for the consequences of social inequality, and the connections between these and the development of mental health difficulties, have been well documented (Chesler, 1972;Penfold and Walker, 1984;Ussher, 1991). In child sexual abuse, powerful injunctions are used by the perpetrator to ensure the attribution of blame to the child.…”