ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how psychological informed treatments can be used successfully with women diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth. The chapter describes a step care model as a follow-on to a locally delivered birth afterthoughts service postpartum. Evidence-based therapeutic approaches for use with women postpartum are discussed, including eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, trauma-focused CBT and compassion-focused therapy. The chapter draws on the experience of a Birth Trauma clinic and illuminates the gap in perinatal mental health services (PNMH) and more specifically access to psychology-informed treatment for women and their partners.
