TOP TAKE-AWAY: SOCIAL SUPPORT AS A PATHWAY TO HEALTHY COPING

After parents experience a miscarriage, they often struggle to cope. Many parents use passive coping, which can be maladaptive in the long term because it consists of self-blame, wishful thinking, and ignoring the situation.

Active coping is a more adaptive form of coping, because it involves problem solving, changing the situation, or changing something about the self in order to deal with the situation. However, active coping can be uncomfortable and even make parents feel worse in the moment. In order to actively cope, a person has to directly confront the situation, and that can make you feel sad, angry, or anxious in the moment. So, while it may be beneficial in the long-term, it can be very hard to do in the short-term.

However, social support can serve as a pathway to more adaptive active coping following miscarriage. When social support allows parents to receive acknowledgement of their loss from their friends and family, they have an opportunity to comfortably express their feelings of loss and grief. This may not make it easy, but it may make it easier to directly confront their loss so they can actively cope.

Swanson, K. M. (2000). Predicting depressive symptoms after miscarriage: A path analysis based on the Lazarus paradigm. Journal of Women’s Health & Gender-Based Medicine, 9(2), 191–206. doi:10.1089/152460900318696