If a woman chooses to have an
abortion in order to bring a personal crisis to an end, often times
she is left facing a number of monumental barriers to moving through
the process of grieving her loss, or even recognizing that she has
experienced a loss at all.
There is no external evidence that her baby ever existed (no pictures or other memorabilia).
She may not believe that she has the right to grieve a loss that she has chosen to create.
There is no public forum for grieving the loss of her child (no memorial service or eulogy).
The support system that usually gathers around a bereaved mother is very limited, or absent altogether, for the post-abortive woman (because in most cases few people are even told about the procedure; the ones who do know aren’t likely to be excited about rehashing it afterward).
If she confides in someone who did not know about the abortion, she risks disapproval or rejection.
The preparation for the abortion rarely includes any discussion of the possibility of emotional issues – especially grieving – afterward.
If she is troubled enough by feelings of distress after the abortion, a woman may seek help from a counselor who may not understand post-abortion syndrome.
A post-abortive woman may not have her grief validated as a normal and predictable grieving process; and as a result, she may repress her feelings of sadness and anger. Without an opportunity to work through it, the grieving process is interrupted and may not be resumed until years later.
What it does…
Some symptoms of Post Abortion Syndrome:
Guilt (results from violating one’s own sense of right and wrong).
Anxiety (headaches, dizziness, pounding heart, abdominal cramps, muscle tightness, difficulty sleeping, etc.)
Avoidance behaviors (of anything remindful of pregnancy and children)
Psychological “numbing” (the unconscious vow to never let anything hurt this badly again can hamper the ability to enter fully into an emotional, intimate relationship)
Depression (sad mood, sudden and uncontrollable crying episodes, deterioration of self-concept, sleep and appetite disturbances, reduced motivation, loss of normal sources of pleasure, thoughts of suicide)
Re-experiencing events related to the abortion (persistent thoughts and flashbacks memories or nightmares involving themes of lost or dismembered babies)
Preoccupation with becoming pregnant again (representing an unconscious hope that a new pregnancy will replace the baby that was aborted)
Anxiety over fertility and childbearing issues (being convinced that God will punish by withholding future pregnancies)
Interruption or disruption of the bonding with present and/or future children (underbonding or overbonding with other children, whether born before or after woman has an abortion)
Self Abuse/self-destructive behaviors (eating disorder, alcohol and/or substance abuse, cigarette smoking, abusive relationships, promiscuity, failure to take care of one’s self medically)
Anniversary reactions (an increase in symptoms around the time of the anniversary of the abortion, the due date of the aborted child or both)
Brief psychotic disorder (a psychotic break with reality lasting for a short period of time within two weeks of the abortion)
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