Find a therapist for birth trauma

Birth trauma symptoms often appear in the days or weeks following delivery, though they can emerge later, including during a subsequent pregnancy.

Common signs

• Intrusive memories or flashbacks of the birth, arising without warning
• Nightmares or disturbed sleep related to the experience
• Intense distress when reminded of the birth, including by hospitals, medical settings, or pregnancy-related content
• Avoidance of conversations, people, or places associated with the birth
• Feeling emotionally numb, detached, or disconnected from the baby or partner
• Heightened alertness, irritability, or a persistent sense that something bad is about to happen

Other common experiences

• Guilt, anger, or grief about how the birth unfolded
• Difficulty with physical intimacy or fear of another pregnancy
• Intrusive thoughts about what could have happened

Birth trauma is a recognised psychological response to an overwhelming event, not a sign of weakness or failure as a parent. Only a qualified mental health professional can assess whether symptoms meet the criteria for PTSD or another trauma-related diagnosis. If you are experiencing severe distress or thoughts of harming yourself, please contact a crisis line or your nearest emergency service.

Birth trauma responds well to trauma-focused therapies, particularly those that work directly with the distressing memory rather than around it.

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) EMDR uses guided eye movements to help the brain reprocess traumatic birth memories, reducing their emotional charge without requiring extensive verbal recounting.
• Trauma informed care Trauma-informed care shapes how a therapist works across the whole relationship, prioritising safety, transparency, and your sense of control, which is particularly important when birth involved a loss of agency.
• Somatic experiencing Somatic experiencing addresses the physical responses held in the body after a frightening event, including tension, numbness, or a persistent sense of danger, working at the level of the nervous system.
• CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) Trauma-focused CBT helps process the distressing memory and addresses the thoughts and avoidance behaviours that sustain the trauma response over time.
• CFT (Compassion-focused therapy) CFT can help with the guilt and self-blame that often accompany birth trauma, building a more compassionate internal response to what happened.

Choosing an approach isn't something you have to do alone. IC's matching can pair you with a therapist whose approach suits your situation. Get matched.

It's Complicated is a therapist-founded mental health platform connecting clients with verified practitioners across Europe and globally, in over 60 languages. We work with over 2,500 vetted therapists, with in-person availability in Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Vienna, and other major cities, alongside online sessions worldwide. It's Complicated is free to use, and you pay your chosen therapist directly at rates they set. Finding a therapist with experience in perinatal trauma, rather than general PTSD, makes a meaningful difference in how well the work fits. Our matching service is built to remove that friction. You complete a short survey, our psychologists combine data-driven insights with human judgement to identify the right therapists for your situation, and you choose from a shortlist of strong candidates. You can also browse our directory directly if you'd prefer to choose yourself. Get matched with a therapist who specialises in birth trauma, or browse the directory.