Some trauma symptoms can be confused with PND.
Anxiety and panic for example are symptoms of both disorders. Trouble sleeping can be present with both trauma and PND.
Left untreated it is not uncommon for trauma symptoms to cause depression.
Living day to day with trauma symptoms of high anxiety, hypervigilance, anger, sadness, recurrent thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks can drag a person down into a very low mood and depression.
By treating the trauma symptoms first a window of opportunity is created to tackle the other symptoms of PND.
The symptoms of trauma can often be addressed in 2 or 3 sessions. The symptoms and issues around PND can be more established and may require more sessions with a qualified hypnotherapist or psychotherapist.
After quite a traumatic birth with my first child which ended with a c section, when I became pregnant as happy as I was, there was always a looming dread about labour and all my associated and somewhat unhelpful feelings. Together with my husband, Alex led us through a gentle session where we revisited to scene of our first birth experience but with fresh eyes. We were able to take the good from the experience (our beautiful son) and let the rest go. After the sessions I was more at ease during the rest of my pregnancy and was able to maintain much more calm during my second birth had I not done the sessions with Alex.
Makeda’s story