Obstetric violence leaves deep traces on those who suffer from it. Childbirth, an act not only physical but also full of feelings, doubts and hopes, can become an extremely unpleasant request if the woman feels that she has been treated as a mere container with “empty” contents.
Phrases like “don’t yell, ” don’t you?” or “calm down that you’re going to do something wrong” childishly, relegate her to a place of mockery and helplessness, undo any expression of pain and confusion evident at a crucial moment in their lives.
- To be a good health care professional.
- It’s not just worth having the “technical” knowledge.
- To be a good professional is to know how to treat your patients with the respect they deserve and with a minimum of empathy and understanding.
Constant cuts in areas such as health cause unpleasant events to appear in the doctor-patient relationship, as the former may feel exhausted and collapsed and patients may feel that they are not understood or that they are simply interested in caring.
Giving birth with dignity and surrounded by a medical team that accompanies the patient with respect is not a privilege, it is not an exceptional concession: giving birth with dignity is a right.
They tell us that we have to give birth, sometimes almost as a tycitate imposition of society, but when women face the dilemmas that this entails, they are not treated as they should in most cases, this happens not only at birth, but in all aspects of women’s reproductive health.
It is not strange that some women are attracted to other care than the usual medical circuit, as they sometimes feel expropriated from any important decisions in the pregnancy and childbirth process, even at the risk of not receiving strict and specialized medical care. care in a hospital with all health guarantees.
Without going any further, women in their thirties who wish to submit to horn tubes for their firm decision not to want to have children are constantly questioned about their decision, an intimate decision, about their sex and reproductive life.
If they ever repent of this decision, it will be something that they themselves will have to face and overcome, like the rest of life’s decisions, since to live is to decide, to hinder free decisions is to dominate, not to advise.
Often, women continue to receive extremely authoritarian treatment from those around her, as if her ability to judge was reduced.
Childbirth is an expected and desired time for every pregnant man. After pregnancy and a series of profound physical and psychological changes, the woman wants everything to “get better. “The contradiction is that “everything works? It does not simply come down to the absence of medical complications during childbirth.
The woman wants to give birth with the feeling that they are taking care of her, that her contractions of immense pain are not minimized or ridiculed. The ingrained idea that women activate their hormones and don’t respond to themselves is sometimes not a real fact. , but responds to a self-fulfilling prophecy: if health professionals treat women as hysterical from the beginning, they will end up behaving as such.
Obstetric violence involves denying information, performing unnecessary C-sections, injecting medications when not needed, and verbally and physically abusing pregnant women before, during and after childbirth.
If a person realizes that he is being treated with contempt and condescension, his frustration and pain increase even more, then complaints are his way of defending himself against this thoughtless and humiliating treatment. While this may seem like an exaggeration, it is not. Most women with postpartum depression identify treatment received by health professionals during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum as the main stressor.
It is very common for women to feel lonely and overwhelmed by their new role as a mother, that a sense of emptiness and sadness invades them once they have given birth. If they are treated dehumanized by health professionals, this feeling is accentuated.
They have been waiting for many months, but no one has warned them that they will go through a difficult rehabilitation process and that the feeling of constant crying is normal and natural, this is where a feeling of guilt can arise, and they may even feel a deep misunderstanding on the part of those around them. This does not happen in all cases, but it does occur quite frequently, and should be taken into account.
The real information health professionals have given you about your postpartum is a source of reinforcement in the face of the challenges your new role as a mother requires. Not providing adequate information is also a form of indifference and carelessness.
We are not saying that warm and empathetic treatment can 100% prevent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, but it relieves and minimizes them. There are many initiatives by both medical staff and patients who have experienced obstetric violence so that dehumanized treatment during childbirth is not repeated.
Many health professionals are aware of this fact and do a fantastic job in the care and follow-up of the single woman or partner, so that the information is not seen as something exclusive, but as a necessary condition for any treatment worthy of a natural process. , but sometimes contradictory.
Different differences or views may arise, but with willpower and vocation, health professionals will be able to provide the right information to the patient, who needs to feel active in this important process that will change their lives forever. Dismantling obstetric violence is not demonizing all health workers and testing their protocols, it is quite the opposite.
To denounce dehumanized treatment, to want to give birth with dignity and to desire good treatment by professionals is to want them to participate positively in one of the most important moments, being assisted, not only by professionals who do their work, but also by professionals who practice it in a responsible way, leads to the physical and psychological well-being of patients.