MNHQ here - a survey from the Miscarriage Association on pregnancy loss and mental health

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello,

The Miscarriage Association has asked us to share a survey they are currently running about pregnancy loss and mental health.

They say about this survey:

“You don’t need to have a particular diagnosis to experience poor mental health. We’d like to find out more about your experiences and how we can support you.

“If you have experienced pregnancy loss, and if you feel able to, please help us by answering some questions. There's more information on this link. Thank you very much.”

You can view the survey here.

Many thanks
MNHQ

Hi everyone,

Thank you very much to everyone who filled in this survey. We had almost 2000 responses and all of these helped us to develop our new resources on looking after your mental health during and after pregnancy loss.

We all need to look after our mental health. Experiencing pregnancy loss may mean you need to take even greater care of yourself for a while. You may have experienced the physical loss yourself, or you may be the partner or loved one of someone who has.

Feelings of loss, grief, anxiety and anger are both common and understandable after pregnancy loss. However, for some, their loss or losses may be part of what causes a mental health problem, such as PTSD or depression. And for others, their experience makes existing mental health problems worse.

Our new information aims to support anyone who is finding it difficult to cope with the feelings they have during and after pregnancy loss, or in future pregnancies.

Your mental health
Looking after your mental health after pregnancy loss
A filmed interview with a counsellor about getting counselling after pregnancy loss.

A new leaflet - Looking after your mental health during and after pregnancy loss.

Please do take a look and let us know what you think - and thanks again for all your help

Clare
(The Miscarriage Association)

@fostress thank you Clare for the work you and the MA do. I found all the leaflets and info on the MA site so helpful and supportive in my darkest days following both my losses last year. I wonder whether there will be increased activity to promote awareness around baby/ pregnancy loss/ miscarriage during Mental Health awareness week this week. I still feel there is such little understanding/awareness in society around miscarriage going by the insensitive comments/remarks made to me still - making me feel like somehow my losses are not worthy of my grief and mourning. When shared on MN it seems I an not alone in having similar comments made to me.

Hi @InDreamland - thank you for your message - so glad you found the MA helpful after your losses. We are aiming to do some work to promote awareness during this week - it's sad but not everyone does understand. Have you seen our info on supporting someone else through pregnancy loss? It aims to help other people understand what helps and what feels insensitive and hurtful.
Very best wishes
Clare

@fostress
Hi Clare
Thank you. Yes, I read and shared all the links/leaflets with family/friends/colleagues after my first loss but sadly it didn't really help much - people still make "helpful" comments which just set me back even more and so I find myself distancing myself from those I was once very close to (even those who have experienced pregnancy loss themselves and seem to have forgotten what it feels like). There is a lot out there at the moment to raise awareness of mental health more generally, such as the BBC documentaries and work that the royals are supposedly doing however nothing that specifically looks at baby/pregnancy loss and it's impact on those who suffer from that experience. It's still such a taboo subject that no one seems to want to acknowledge let alone understand.

@dreamland - I'm so sorry it's been so hard. We completely agree - we hope that our promotion of these new resources - both our leaflet and online and the research they are based on will help start this conversation and raise further awareness.

@fostress thank you. Hopefully over time society will start to recognise how so many are affected and how they can help. Thanks again for all the hard work.

@InDreamland thank you (hugs)