ABSTRACT
This chapter sets the scene for the psychological context and emotional milieu for women who have experienced a traumatic birth. It considers the range of psychological challenges that women face during the transition to motherhood in the post-partum, including the frequently seen elevation in emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. The chapter also considers the risk of pathologising the emotional distress that accompanies normal psychological processes seen during the postnatal period, including forming a new identity as a mother (sometimes with a sense of loss and grief) and managing cultural and social expectations. The links between autobiographical memory, emotional memory and identity are also explored as it is discussed how the way in which we remember events influences our sense of self, and this is considered in relation to how this process may be impacted when a woman has experienced childbirth as traumatic. Finally, the concept of maternal–infant attachment is introduced as an additional process that is ongoing whilst a woman may be trying to come to terms with a traumatic birth experience.
