What is it about?
By tracking women's experiences for the whole year after the loss we were able to see that the level of distress after miscarriage or stillbirth predicted how much psychological growth took place. This suggests that after a loss, women have to engage in coping strategies that help reduce the distress and increase resilience. We also have shown that there was a higher potential for experiencing positive changes early months after the loss.
Featured Image
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Our findings show that early interventions and support after loss may be especially important in fostering the experience of positive change after a traumatic event such as miscarriage or stillbirth. It also highlights that distress and growth often co-exist and both outcomes need to be recognized in clinical practice.
Perspectives
I hope that this article continues to reduce stigma and misconceptions about perinatal loss and provides validation on how traumatic and distressing those loses can be and the process it takes to adjust to a new reality after a loss.
Agata Freedle
University of Missouri at Saint Louis
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Longitudinal associations of posttraumatic outcomes in perinatally bereaved women., Traumatology An International Journal, February 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/trm0000553.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
