What is Post-Abortion syndrome?
There are many negative emotional reactions that have been associated with abortion. Some women experience "impacted grieving," which reflects an inability to complete the grieving process. Other women experience specific self-destructive tendencies, including eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, and substance abuse.
A widely used term for emotional problems is "post-abortion syndrome" or PAS. Actually, post-abortion syndrome has been proposed as a specific diagnosis for those women who experience a specific, related set of emotional problems. Specifically, PAS is proposed as a subset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when PTSD is the result of an abortion.
Many women who have emotional problems after an abortion fit within the diagnosis for PTSD.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
PTSD can occur when a person undergoes a traumatic experience that is beyond their normal ability to "cope" and results in intense fear, feelings of helplessness, being trapped, or loss of control. Those who witness or participate in a violent death, or who experience physical injury or sexual assault (such as victims of war, a plane crash or rape) are at greatest risk for experiencing PTSD.
With PTSD, the victim wants to forget about the event and put it behind her, but at the same time, she is driven to express her feelings of fear and pain. As a result, she is caught in a trap, constantly alternating between feeling numb and reliving the traumatic event. Her efforts to "cope" with her feelings can take on a life of their own, often resulting in abnormal behaviors.
Many women who have had abortions describe the dreamlike quality of the experience, as if they were standing outside the scene watching themselves go through the abortion. "I felt as though I was walking through a dream," writes Lori, who was pressured by family members to abort when she developed complications during her pregnancy. "Later I had this incredible isolated feeling, like a wall went up."
What are the risk factors for PAS?
