Thursday 6 February 2020

Trauma Focused CBT: Session Seven

(Trigger Warning: Mentions of Abortion, Stillbirth, and Miscarriage)

I felt quite down leading up to, and during session seven. My homework was to pick some of the feared situations from the list I'd made in my last session . I decided I would try to look at some pregnancy scans on Facebook, as well as watch some story lines on television, of stillbirth and miscarriage. I was also to carry on using the term "Abortion" rather than "Termination". As well as this, I was to keep on journalling and noting down how putting myself in these situations made me feel and how I coped with that.

I find using the term "abortion" isn't so fearful now. My feelings about the term are more the way someone would react when a word makes them cringe (e.g. "moist"). For the record, this does not mean I am against abortion, it's just that the traumatic one I had makes certain things affect me in different ways. So saying the word brings me back to that time, but not so intensely that I panic and get particularly triggered.

I can also cope better with seeing pregnancy scans. Before I exposed myself therapeutically to this, I found being faced with any pregnancy scan triggered me and would bring back flashbacks of being told I'm pregnant and feeling scared about what was to come next. I can separate other people's scans from my own now, and am not brought back to that time so uncontrollably.

Watching story lines about any kind of baby/fetal loss is still very difficult though. I'm forcing myself to stop avoiding these story lines, or zoning out (although I do still find myself dissociating sometimes). Stillbirth isn't as triggering, although it upsets me as much as it would upset anyone, if not slightly more. The physical side of miscarriage and the attitudes towards abortion that you see on medical dramas for example can be very triggering however. It can trigger flashbacks of the most graphic parts of my traumatic abortion; including the sickness and pain. The attitudes also remind me of the judgmental attitudes of some of the nurses I saw at that time. I was made to feel like an irresponsible teenager. I was also made to feel guilty by the potential father (he lit a candle to "mourn our loss") and made to feel like a burden by my partner at the time, in subsequent arguments around this subject.

I explained all of this at my latest session, and my therapist helped me to understand that although I had made the decision to have the abortion, the attitudes of those around me and the physical pain etc was not my fault. I had made the right decision for me at the time, even if I thought I may have coped if I'd kept the baby. It still would've affected a lot of my life.

My next piece of homework was to go through more feared situations. This time, I decided to try and talk to the best friend who supported me throughout, about my abortion. I also decided, if appropriate and carefully planned, to talk to a friend of mine who has also had an abortion. This would hopefully help open me up to other perspectives, their views on what I/they went through, and importantly, to feel less alone and more connected with people who have been through similar.

So far I have managed a short talk with the best friend; where we mainly spoke about the attitudes of people around me at the time. I found this very helpful, validating, and eye-opening. I won't go into much detail but we discussed the potential father and how flaky he could be when it came to supporting me. I hadn't fully realised this at the time, but I know now that it was true. I was so in love with him, but I'm glad to have moved on. I don't know what the future will bring, but I do hope I find the right partner for me, who would like to have children too. I also hope it is not too late to have children by the time I am ready.


Resources

Amys Mystery Illness - Trauma Focused CBT: Session Six: https://www.amysmysteryillness.co.uk/2020/01/trauma-focused-cbt-session-six.html

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