Gestational, Perinatal and Neonatal Loss: Emotional and Psychological Consequences on Mothers, Fathers and Healthcare Professionals.
The current article contains compilation of significant contributions done by theorists over the years about the phenomenon of perinatal loss. The objective of this paper is to provide information about important emotional and psychological consequences on parents who suffer stillbirth. This article addresses identity issues of the mother, father, and their relationship as a couple. It also provides information on the psychological, emotional, and legal aftermath of healthcare professionals who assist during the process of loss.
In 1968, Bourne drafted an article on the psychological effects of the deceased baby in the women and their doctors. He suggests that the deceased could become a type of “blind spot”
for the professionals that go through the experience, pretending that it had not occurred at all. The medical professionals kept absolute silence about the occurrence and would sedate the mother in the stillbirth with the intention of “avoiding the pain” of seeing the baby lifeless. When the mother
woke up, the body had already been taken out of sight. As previously mentioned, the most common recommendation for these cases was to suggest a new pregnancy for parents to forget the passing.
Further, Kennell et al published about the grief of neonates. The paper highlighted distinctive elements such as sadness, poor appetite, difficulty sleeping, and concern with the lost child,
and the inability to return to the activity of daily life. Benfield et al studied the responses of grief in first-births of neonates in vital risk, and in that same year, work on the specific management
An anonymous author published in 1959, the first article on the suffering of a perinatal loss of a first born. This article reported the difficulties that an obstetrician had when facing fetal
death before, during, and after childbirth.
Soc Behav Res Pract Open J. 2020; 5(2): 43-52. doi: 10.17140/SBRPOJ-5-127
