TOP TAKE-AWAY: PSYCHOTHERAPY: A TREATMENT FOR WOMEN AND THEIR PARTNERS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED REPRODUCTIVE TRAUMA

Women who have experienced reproductive trauma struggle with having to go on with everyday life after their tremendous loss. They may find it extremely difficult to deal with their loss. They may also struggle with how their partner grieves and copes differently from them, which can cause problems in their relationship. Although pregnancy loss may be very difficult to get through, there is hope. One treatment that can help women and their partners to cope with their loss and strengthen their relationship is psychotherapy. Psychotherapy helps individuals change their behaviors and overcome problems that they face daily.

Every woman has her own unique reproductive story. I am sure at some point in your childhood, you played house pretending to be a mother, tucked your favorite stuffed animal into bed, or had your own baby doll that you took care of like it was your child. Most women have fantasized about their future as mothers; being able to nurture a happy and healthy baby. If a reproductive loss occurs, it can be extremely overwhelming and painful, causing women to realize how their reproductive stories have been in place for most of their lives.


Reproductive stories can be used in psychotherapy when dealing with pregnancy loss. Focusing on one’s reproductive story in psychotherapy and how it hasn’t gone as planned can allow clients to:

• Understand that their reproductive story, although core to their identity, may change.
• Face their grief and loss by developing coping mechanisms personalized to them.
• Accept that their story isn’t over. You can write yourself a new reproductive story with a new positive ending.

Some important things that therapists may focus on in psychotherapy is:

• Interventions to facilitate grieving:
• Understanding that the client’s reproductive story drastically changed
• Normalize the client’s erratic feelings; they experienced something traumatic and it is part of the grieving process
• Teaching them not to ignore their feelings. Help clients acknowledge their loss in a way that works for them (talking to their partner, going for a long walk, journaling, etc.)

• How to resolve feelings of guilt:
• Express to clients not to blame themselves when they have no power over the situation; it may make them feel more in control, but it is not the truth!

• Helping couples resolve conflict:
• Acknowledge that the couple’s reproductive story has changed which may have caused tension between them. 
• Allow them to talk about their feelings in order for them to fully understand each other’s needs
• Help them work on a solution that will help them understand that they have experienced the same trauma, but are dealing with it in different ways

• Pregnancy loss after infertility:
• Acknowledging the client’s loss and teaching them not to minimize it
• Presenting ways to cope with their loss (writing down their feelings throughout their grieving journey to see how they have gotten better over time)

Through psychotherapy, therapist’s can help clients revisit their reproductive stories and acknowledge them in order to help build new ones. Although our reproductive stories can be altered from what we had hoped to what we always feared, it is important to realize that your reproductive story is not over and that you will get through this difficult time.

Jaffe, J. (2017). Reproductive trauma: Psychotherapy for pregnancy loss and infertility clients from a reproductive story perspective. Psychotherapy, 54(4), 380–385. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000125