Symptoms Of Postpartum PTSD and Expressive Writting: A prospective Study

Research studies on post-partum PTSD have highlighted that the experience
of childbirth can be traumatic in itself because it often involves fear, pain, impotence
and non-expressed negative emotions. This study hypothesized that mental processing
post-partum emotions, through Pennekaber’s expressive writing (EW) method, can
reduce short- and long-term posttraumatic symptoms. The sample was of 242 women
(mean age=31.5; SD=4) of whom 120 performed the EW-task and 122 were not asked to
write. The Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire (PPQ) was administered 48 hours and two
months after childbirth (the total sample) and 12 months after childbirth (65 women).
The data show a positive effect of expressive writing, which allows them to process and
mentalize negative emotions, worries and fears, deactivating both avoidance
mechanisms and physiological symptoms linked to hyperarousal.
Key Words: childbirth, expressive writing, negative emotion elaboration, PTSD, post
partum symptoms