Childbirth and Narratives: How Do Mothers Deal with Their Child’s Birth?

This research focuses on post traumatic stress disorders which arise after
childbirth and adds to the literature on psychological post partum diseases. The hypothesis of this study was
that psychological expression of negative emotions could reduce the occurrence of stress symptoms after
labour and delivery. A group of 64 women with a healthy pregnancy was examined. Half of them were asked to
express their emotion experienced during labour and delivery through a written account. The results indicated a
significant difference in the number of post traumatic stress symptoms between the two groups, underlining the
positive effect of the emotional disclosure. KEY WORDS: childbirth, PTSD, post partum disorder, written
emotional expression.