Birth trauma research

That dissonance is at the heart of birth trauma. It’s why we need to listen more carefully, and it’s why I have put together this page, which explains what birth trauma is, and shares links to some key studies on this topic.

Where to get help for birth trauma

But I want to share some links first.

If you have come here seeking a more direct form of help for a pregnancy, birth, or postnatal experience that you found traumatic, here are some links to places you can get help from.

The Birth Trauma Association – “Founded and run by women who have experienced birth trauma, we are the only charity in the UK solely dedicated to supporting women and families who have experienced traumatic birth.”

MumsAid have a lot of useful links.

The Samaritans is a free, confidential listening service for anyone who needs help.

You can also talk to your midwife, health visitor, or GP, but I know that some people don’t want to do that, for reasons that are very understandable.

The rest of this page discusses birth trauma research, with lots of links to key studies.

Please be aware that some of the studies on women’s experiences of birth trauma may be distressing to read.

Birth trauma research

Birth trauma research is really important.

It is clear from a number of sources that traumatic birth experiences (which are experienced differently from person to person, of course) can significantly affect a mother’s experiences, well being and mental health.

This is the starting point taken by a number of groups of researchers.

There are now hundreds of studies on birth trauma, and I want to stress that this is not a systematic review of them. It’s a collection of what I have written about some of the key studies on this topic in my Birth Information Update. These papers contain links to many others for those who would like to explore birth trauma further, so I would urge you to click on links, and then keep clicking, to explore other papers.

Defining birth trauma

One important paper helps explain the problem, and its authors aimed to develop a woman-centered, inclusive definition of traumatic childbirth experiences.

Published in Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, Leinweber et al (2022) set out the problem:

“Many women experience giving birth as traumatic. Although women’s subjective experiences of trauma are considered the most important, currently there is no clear inclusive definition of a traumatic birth to help guide practice, education, and research.”

The issue of subjectivity

This lack of a clear definition is often an issue when we try to research subjective experiences. And birth is full of subjective experiences. The sensations of labour, our satisfaction (or otherwise) with the care that is offered, the way we feel about giving birth.

It’s important for individuals to be able to have their experiences respected and heard, and for us not to assume that things are the same for everyone. But researchers, service users and clinicians also all need to be able to use terms that we can define, so that we can write about such topics and know what each other are talking about.

This is especially the case with birth trauma, which is thought to be experienced by somewhere between 9% and 50% of women, depending on what research you look at (Leinweber et al 2022). The rate is also variable according to country, care provider, types of birth and several other factors.

The aim of the conversation

So Leinweber et al (2022) set out, “To formulate a woman-centered, inclusive definition of a traumatic childbirth experience.”

To do that, they began a quick literature review, which helps get a sense of what is out there already, and they then undertook a five-step process.

“First, a draft definition was created based on interdisciplinary experts’ views. The definition was then discussed and reformulated with input from over 60 multidisciplinary clinicians and researchers during a perinatal mental health and birth trauma research meeting in Europe. A revised definition was then shared with consumer groups in eight countries to confirm its face validity and adjusted based on their feedback.” (Leinweber et al 2022)

Unsurprisingly, their research confirmed that a woman-centered and inclusive definition was felt to be important to both the recipients and providers of maternity care.

The definition

Their final definition was: “A traumatic childbirth experience refers to a woman’s experience of interactions and/or events directly related to childbirth that caused overwhelming distressing emotions and reactions; leading to short and/ or long-term negative impacts on a woman’s health and wellbeing.” (Leinweber et al 2022)

A few things are important about this definition. As the researchers note, it, “acknowledges that low-quality provider interactions and obstetric violence can traumatize individuals during childbirth.” (Leinweber et al 2022)

But just naming something can help us to further the conversation. And, while we have been talking and writing about birth trauma for a while, we are still developing the language needed in order to deepen and widen our understanding of this. This paper, which is open access, will help with that. It contains an in-depth discussion of many aspects of birth trauma and reference to more than ninety papers for those who want to explore the issues further. You can read it here.

Women’s experiences of birth trauma

In another important paper, researchers undertook a qualitative study in which they interviewed ten mothers.

They wanted to “explore maternal self-perceptions of bonding with their infants and parenting experiences following birth trauma.” (Molloy et al 2020).

There is much talk from some areas of the kind of trauma that derives from intervention or the words and actions of professionals, and that is certainly confirmed in this paper.

But in talking about the sources of their feelings, the women also reference being upset by information from outside sources (childbirth education being one example), by their expectations of themselves, by societal pressure.

It’s important not to focus only on one area when sources of trauma are multiple, and also individual.

Undermining knowledge

If you’ve heard me speak, you might know that one of the things I refer to often is the way that our current approach to maternity care has served to undermine woman’s own knowledge.

I’ve written about that as well, for example in In Your Own Time: how western medicine controls the start of labour and why this needs to stop.

When we insist that pregnancy length is fixed and not fluid, when we force women to follow due dates defined by machines and not their own bodies, when we constantly prioritise medical definitions over women’s own instincts, we undermine a vital source of information and a well of trust.

Sadly, this has been further confirmed by this study.

“Women saw the start of their parenting journey as contributing to this emotional disconnect from their infants where their self-knowledge and understanding of their own bodies was dismissed by professionals, which in turn led to them doubting further decision making and knowledge about parenting.

They began to mistrust their own instincts.

They also felt they couldn’t talk about what they really felt for fear of being branded ‘bad mothers’ or having children removed.” (Molloy et al 2020).

Key findings

The results of Molloy et al‘s (2020) study didn’t surprise those who are involved with birth, which these days is managed and run on a commercial model.

“Women who experienced birth trauma often described disconnection to their infants and lacking confidence in their parental decision making. Many perceived themselves as being ‘not good enough’ mothers. For some women the trauma resulted in memory gaps of the immediate post-partum period which they found distressing, or physical recovery was so overwhelming that it impacted their capabilities to parent the way they had imagined they would. Some women developed health anxiety which resulted in an isolating experience of early parenthood.” (Molloy et al 2020).

The knock-on effects

“Women who have suffered birth trauma may be at risk of increased fear and anxiety around their child’s health and their parenting abilities. Some women may experience this as feeling a lower emotional attachment to their infant. Women who experience birth trauma should be offered support during early parenting. Mother-Infant relationships often improve after the first year.” (Molloy et al 2020).

All studies have limitations. As Molloy et al (2020) acknowledge, the study population in this one were self-selected. All but one of the women described herself as ‘White British’, and the other as ‘Eastern European’. The researchers also acknowledge this, and the fact that this is a rather specific group. That’s especially important when one considers the experiences of Black and Brown women in maternity care and how badly we need to work out how to improve their experiences and outcomes. The authors noted a plan to undertake further work to include more diverse populations.

Is there any hope?

Molloy et al‘s (2020) study had a really important message, as they explain:

“Other than anecdotally, little is understood or known about a mother’s experience of parenting through PNMH illness.

Exploring mothers’ perceptions of their parenting experiences and capabilities may inform the development of services which are there to support parents with PMNH illnesses, and early parenting.

This also goes some way to explore the link for women between their birth experience and how they feel able to parent.

Those women who struggled to develop a relationship found that this improved over time. This may also give hope to mothers who are struggling with their parenting relationships.” (Molloy et al 2020).

More recent research

I revisited this topic in my email in 2025, as several studies had come out. Again, these are just a few examples of a wider trend.

In one study, researchers from Spain surveyed 236 women in the first few weeks after giving birth, to find out how experiences during labour and birth might be linked to trauma symptoms.

They discovered that, “Women exposed to obstetric violence have a higher risk of developing P-PTS [perinatal posttraumatic stress] symptoms. Increased risk was noted in those exposed to staff’s ironic comments, undergoing medical procedures without prior information, or those who were made to feel guilty for childbirth outcomes.”

This study confirms that, “Postpartum traumatization may not solely stem from threats to physical integrity or survival but also from experiences of inferiority, inadequacy, loss of dignity, or dehumanizing treatment.” (Vega-Sanz et al 2025).

How can we prevent and treat birth trauma?

In the UK, Barrett et al (2025) published a paper looking at antenatal and intrapartum (in labour) interventions to prevent psychological birth trauma.

As you might expect, there isn’t a lot of data yet, but the fact that researchers are building a base of theory in this area is important. If you are interested in the evidence on birth trauma, this paper also contains links to many useful references.

Another useful paper was written by Harvard psychiatrists, and is A Systematic Review of Interventions for Prevention and Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Childbirth.

Jomeen et al (2025) published a scoping review of effective health practices for the treatment of birth trauma. They found that early, structured interventions could be beneficial.

This is useful knowledge, but we also need to look at another area, that of how women are treated, especially in institutions, so that women like Pip don’t have negative experiences in the first place. I’ll come back to this below.

Expanding our understanding of definitions

Definitions and understanding evolve over time, and Freestun et al (2025) help explain the concept of birth trauma, the ways in which this concept has evolved. They also explain how complex this is to unpack and write about. 

These researchers discussed potential connections between the increase in inductions and birth trauma, finding that, “Overwhelmingly women expressed a desire to avoid IOL, along with the intention to: resist pressure, allow more time for spontaneous labour onset, and arm themselves with more knowledge to advocate against non-medically indicated justifications.” More on induction here.

The variety of perspectives was also highlighted by Donegan et al (2025), who investigated “…the global landscape of birth trauma management, focusing on the current best practice guidelines and service provisions for supporting women with birth-related trauma and the practicable actionable gaps that needs to be addressed.”

They concluded that, “There is an urgent need for standardised, evidence-based guidelines that are user-friendly and provide practical advice for implementing trauma-informed care.” 

A round-up of 2025 research

Other studies that I highlighted in 2025 looked at birth trauma among obstetricians, the impact of midwife-led counselling, how the time following a traumatic birth is experienced differently by mothers and fathers and by non-carrying mothers in same-gender relationships. 

We’ve also seen the publication of research on rumination and post-traumatic growth, and a study on midwives’ experiences on caring for women with birth trauma. 

Keedle et al (2025) looked at the experiences of women with a history of intimate partner violence. Their results “demonstrate how previously traumatized women can leave the maternity system retraumatized and identify the need for a trauma-informed approach to maternity care.”

Researchers investigated the prevalence of Birth Trauma and Childbirth-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CBPTSD) in the UK, and found that one in five women are affected in some way by this.

These studies are just the most recent ones, and there are many others.

I’m a tiny bit heartened to see the increased volume of research on this topic over the past few years.

I’ve also been on the planet long enough to have seen many examples of the lag between noticing that there is a problem and actually doing something to change it.

And I’ve definitely been around long enough to be concerned that those in charge are unlikely to prioritise women and evidence-based solutions over maintaining bureaucracy and profit.

Why recommendations aren’t the answer

Reports of birth trauma are increasing, as a 2024 UK national enquiry showed, in a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma.

Most often, the trauma is the result of the way that women are being treated in systems of maternity care. But making tweaks and adding recommendations within the current system is not the answer.

And we know that many of the physical problems that women and babies are experiencing are caused by an excess of unnecessary intervention, which often begins with induction of labour.

Others stem from neglect, and from not listening to women.

The solution is to listen

There are potential solutions, but they aren‘t focused around profit, risk management and the ‘business model’ approach to care.

More recommendations which merely tweak an already broken system aren‘t the answer.

Especially when recommendations create more paperwork and take staff further away from being able to give good care.

What we need is for more people to read more deeply about the issues, and to understand that the problem is complex, and rooted in the approach we take towards women and birth in our modern world.

And the solution begins with looking at the evidence that we have known about for decades.

Not just the evidence on this page, about birth trauma itself. But the evidence on how women feel about birth, and they way they are treated, and what they want to be different.

We need to listen to women, and then respond with solutions that might actually make things better.

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