When we think about trauma and PTSD we tend to think about war and conflict. But around a third of women feel some part of their birth was traumatic. This experience can impact on their mental and physical health, their relationships and future plans. In Why Birth Trauma Matters, Dr Emma Svanberg, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Make Birth Better, explores what happens to those who go through a bad birth. She explains in detail how birth trauma occurs, examines the wide-ranging impact on all of those involved in birth, and looks at treatments and techniques to aid recovery. By drawing on her own research and the work of experts in the field, and sharing the first-hand experiences of women, she shows how it is possible to begin to move on.

What is birth trauma? Who does it affect? How can I address what I'm feeling?

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Renowned for her practice's exemplary results and low intervention rates, Ina May Gaskin has gained international notoriety for promoting natural birth. She is a much-beloved leader of a movement that seeks to stop the hyper-medicalization of birth—which has lead to nearly a third of hospital births in America to be cesarean sections—and renew confidence in a woman's natural ability to birth. Upbeat and informative, Gaskin asserts that the way in which women become mothers is a women's rights issue, and it is perhaps the act that most powerfully exhibits what it is to be instinctually human. Birth Matters is a spirited manifesta showing us how to trust women, value birth, and reconcile modern life with a process as old as our species.

"How to Heal a Bad Birth" is for women (and their partners) who have experienced a challenging birth, and want to gain understanding and clarity about 'what happened', and why they feel so bad...and move on. Written by the co-founders of Birthtalk.org(tm), this book is a straightforward guide to make sense, make peace and move on... whether to a much better birth, or just back to your family, feeling more complete and at peace.

Winner of the 2022 Gradiva® Award for Best Edited Book! Understanding shame as a relational problem, Shame Matters explores how people, with support, can gradually move away from the relentless cycle of shame and find new and more satisfying ways of relating. Orit Badouk Epstein brings together experts from across the world to explore different aspects of shame from an attachment perspective. The impact of racism and socio-economic factors on the development and experience of shame are discussed and illustrated with clinical narratives. Drawing upon the experience of infant researchers, trauma experts and therapists using somatic interventions, Shame Matters explores and develops understanding of the shameful deflations encountered in the consulting room and describes how new and empowered ways of relating can be nurtured. The book also details attachment-informed research into the experience of shame and outlines how it can be applied to clinical practice. Shame Matters will be an invaluable companion for psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, counsellors, social workers, nurses, and others in the helping professions.

Second edition of a leading book on birth trauma, explaining everything you, your family and friends need to know about birth trauma: what causes it, how it affects your relationships, how to treat it, where to find support and how to make a complaint or take legal action. Written by the CEO of the Birth Trauma Association.

Why Love Matters explains why loving relationships are essential to brain development in the early years, and how these early interactions can have lasting consequences for future emotional and physical health. This second edition follows on from the success of the first, updating the scientific research, covering recent findings in genetics and the mind/body connection, and including a new chapter highlighting our growing understanding of the part also played by pregnancy in shaping a baby’s future emotional and physical well-being. The author focuses in particular on the wide-ranging effects of early stress on a baby or toddler’s developing nervous system. When things go wrong with relationships in early life, the dependent child has to adapt; what we now know is that his or her brain adapts too. The brain’s emotion and immune systems are particularly affected by early stress and can become less effective. This makes the child more vulnerable to a range of later difficulties such as depression, anti-social behaviour, addictions or anorexia, as well as physical illness.

Psychologist and birth trauma expert Maureen Campion shares her lessons for releasing the unexpected wounds that come from having a rough birth experience. Birth can be beautiful and spiritual and joyous but there are also terrifying, emotionally raw, painful moments that can be difficult to move past. This book offers you a chance to experience the healing power of working through your birth story, while learning about trauma and developing coping skills for all those complicated feelings. Maureen Campion shares her personal experience with birth trauma and the work she has been doing working with mothers through workshops and counseling to address resolving unexpected birth outcomes. Heal Your Birth Story offers new understanding to the impact of birth on mothers and their partners. Journaling exercises are offered to lead the reader through multiple layers of understanding and healing.

"What a gift to new and expecting moms. You have no idea the mountain and rollercoaster you're about to embark on, but Nurture somehow gives you a peek in and gives you essential information to help ground you." –Catherine McCord, founder of Weelicious and One Potato A comprehensive and judgement-free pregnancy companion: Nurture is the only all-in-one pregnancy and birthing book for modern mothers-to-be and their partners who want a more integrative approach. Author Erica Chidi Cohen has assisted countless births and helped hundreds of families ease into their new roles through her work as a doula. Nurture covers everything from the beginning months of pregnancy to the baby's first weeks. This empowering book includes: • Supportive self-care and mindfulness exercises, trimester-specific holistic remedies, nourishing foods and recipes for every month of pregnancy, and expert tips for every birth environment. • More than 40 charming and helpful illustrations, charts, and lists can be found throughout. • Dozens of important topics that every modern mom needs to know including fetal development, making choices for a hospital, home or birth center birth, the basics of breastfeeding, tips on what to expect postpartum, and more. Nurture is an all-inclusive pregnancy and birthing guide book that gives soon-to-be mothers and their partners the information they need to make decisions, feel confident, and enjoy the beauty of creating new life. Nurture is a thoughtful and helpful gift for expecting mothers and their partners. Erica Chidi is co-founder and CEO of Loom in Los Angeles, CA. She began her work in San Francisco, volunteering as a doula within the prison system, working with pregnant inmates. She went on to build a successful doula and health education practice in Los Angeles and has been featured in Women's Health, Vogue, Goop, The Cut and Marie Claire.