It was no surprise to hear on BBC News that early miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy can lead to PTSD and mental health issues.

Survey Findings

I recently conducted a survey and 78.7% of women who experienced miscarriage were not offered support.

62.2% who have experienced counselling offered by the NHS report that it has little or no impact on their healing.

32.9% were offered support from their employers and more than half of the respondents were in high stress jobs.

Support Offered

Traditionally, when a woman experiences a miscarriage, she is offered support from the NHS, in the form of counselling. However, the research undertaken indicates that less than a third are offered support after, with some women saying that the “support” was a leaflet. Most women who took the support offered, reported that they considered it to be less than effective for their healing.

When asked what they would like the most support with, 85.6% said their emotions. The feelings of guilt/blame/shame/sadness/depression/overwhelm and anxiety are most prevalent after such a loss.

47.2% said they would like to be able to talk about it to others and 31.5% said it affected their relationship with their partner.

The UK has seen a rise in the number of miscarriages

In the UK alone, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. That’s 250,000+ mums every year in one country. The figure itself is staggering. Largely due to additional stress, later pregnancies and environmental factors, this figure is on the rise. Coupled with a less than exemplary support service being offered to the people experiencing this loss first hand, the standard for awareness and support is required to be raised.

The amount of women left to try to get back to normal life after this traumatic loss, is leaving many young women feeling lost, isolated, anxious and alone. They have no strategies in how to cope with their PTSD, mostly not understanding they are suffering with it.

So what can be done?

More funds for more support within the NHS would help. There are many charities such as SANDS, TOMMY’s and the Miscarriage Association who have trained therapists to help but many women go undetected.

Holistic Therapies

Many holistic therapies can help, such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) NLP, Acupuncture, Reiki Healing and EAM (The Energy Alignment Method) of which I am a qualified Mentor. This helps to release the emotions which are stuck and causing the person to feel depressed and overwhelmed, and anxious.

Please don’t suffer in silence, reach out if you need support.https://jotocher.com/

#miscarriage #mentalhealth #dontsufferinsilence #pregnancyloss #grief #loss #ectopicpregnancy #anxiety