Unexpecting: mental health after pregnancy loss (Miscarriage, trauma, and how healthcare providers contribute to disenfranchised grief)

Abstract

Miscarriage affects millions of women annually. The frequency of which miscarriage occurs, and the ease associated with the medical management of miscarriage has meant that a miscarriage is now considered a common pregnancy complication.1 Due to the perceived simplicity in medical management during a miscarriage, providers often neglect the mental healthcare of the mother during such a traumatic loss.2 Healthcare should be all-encompassing, efficient, effective, and humanistic, guiding patients through their treatment with physical and mental care. The medicalized view of miscarriage does not consider the physiological and psychological trauma, grief, and distress experienced by women following a miscarriage.1,2 This article will show that depression and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) are common after a miscarriage, particularly in a late miscarriage when a woman feels in the “safe” zone of her pregnancy journey and yet suddenly becomes unexpecting. This article will also highlight that during a miscarriage, regardless of gestational age, healthcare providers are adding to the trauma already experienced during the loss due to the lack of empathy and lack of supportive care provided.3 Additionally, this article explores what studies have concluded, that women going through a miscarriage believe that healthcare providers often lack acknowledgment of what the expecting mother is going through and healthcare providers fail to help with managing the distress and ongoing care needed following a miscarriage, contributing to disenfranchising the grief that occurs with pregnancy loss