Post-Abortion Syndrome
If you have ever had an abortion, you probably feel very much alone with the memories of your experience. Perhaps the father of the baby has long since passed out of your life. Or it seems as if no one wants to hear about your pain anymore. So you've taken all those complicated feelings surrounding the abortion decision and stuffed them down and tried not to think about them, right? Sometime down the road you may begin to experience some of the following symptoms:
- Guilt (results from violating one's own sense of right and wrong)
- Anxiety (headaches, dizziness, pounding heart, abdominal cramps, muscle tightness, difficulty sleeping, etc.)
- Avoidance behaviors (of anything remindful of pregnancy and children)
- Psychological "numbing" (the unconscious vow to never let anything hurt this badly again can hamper the ability to enter fully into an emotional, intimate relationship)
- Depression (sad mood, sudden and uncontrollable crying episodes, deterioration of self-concept, sleep and appetite disturbances, reduce motivation, loss of normal sources of pleasure, thoughts of suicide)
- Re-experiencing events related to the abortion (persistent thoughts and flashback memories or nightmares involving themes of lost or dismembered babies)
- Preoccupation with becoming pregnant again (representing an unconscious hope that a new pregnancy will replace the baby that was aborted)
- Anxiety over fertility and childbearing issues (being convinced that God will punish by withholding future pregnancies)
- Interruption or disruption of the bonding with present and/or future children (underbonding or overbonding with other children, whether born before or after woman has an abortion)
- Self-abuse/self-destructive behaviors (eating disorders, alcohol and/or substance abuse, cigarette smoking, abusive relationship, promiscuity, failure to take care of one's self medically)
- Anniversary reaction (an increase in symptoms around the time of the anniversary of the abortion, the due date of the aborted child or both)
- Brief psychotic disorder (a psychotic break with reality lasting for a short period of time within two weeks of the abortion)
If you are experiencing one or more of these symptoms, there is help. Our goal is to help you find restoration and peace in your life relationships. We offer "Season's of Grace", a time where you can talk to someone that has been where you are and to begin receiving that peace. We work around your schedule. Call PHC and ask for Beccy.