Could the Doula Model Work for Women Seeking Mental Health Care and Support through the Veteran’s Administration, Especially After Rape or Sexual Trauma?

Elayne Clift, M.A. Her first experience with childbirth was traumatic. Repeated “checks” to determine how near she was to giving birth seemed like unnecessary invasions. When she questioned their frequency she was silenced, as she was when she asked why she had to remain in bed attached to an IV. Labeled a “failure to progress” after only seven hours in labor she was given a C-section “to ensure a healthy baby.”  During her second pregnancy she chose a medical practice that included nurse-midwives and allowed for vaginal birth after Caesarean. Then she “hired” a volunteer doula to support her through labor and delivery. The doula helped her feel calm, safe, capable, and in control of her birth experience. She reassured her that she was strong and her body could do this hard work. The mother’s memory of her second birth experience, unlike the first, is one of joy. She was violently gang-raped while on active duty during Desert Storm. At first she kept quiet, suppressing the traumatic impact of the rape, but later, back in the States, when she could no longer suppress memories of what had happened she went to a VA hospital to seek counseling.  After a short wait without seeing a therapist, she suddenly found herself admitted to a locked co-ed psych ward. Two weeks later, diagnosed with a “severe post-traumatic distress disorder,” a VA psychiatrist recommended that she retire from the military because she was “very ill and wouldn’t get better.” (She...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Childbirth Women Veterans Source Type: blogs