Observations placeholder
Nightmares from illegal abortions in Iran
Identifier
006809
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Iran J Psychiatry. 2011 Winter;6(1):31-6. Psychological Consequences of Abortion among the Post Abortion Care Seeking Women in Tehran. Pourreza A, Batebi A. Department of Health Economics and Management, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
OBJECTIVE: Abortion either medical or criminal has distinctive physical, social, and psychological side effects. Detecting types and frequent psychological side effects of abortion among post abortion care seeking women in Tehran was the main objective of the present study.
METHOD: 278 women of reproductive age (15-49) interviewed as study population. Response rate was 93/8. Data collected through a questionnaire with 2 parts meeting broad socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and health- related abortion consequences. Tehran hospitals were the site of study.
RESULTS: The results revealed that at least one-third of the respondents have experienced psychological side effects. Depression, worrying about not being able to conceive again and abnormal eating behaviors were reported as dominant psychological consequences of abortion among the respondents. Decreased self-esteem, nightmare, guilt, and regret with 43.7%, 39.5%, 37.5%, and 33.3% prevalence rates have been placed in the lower status, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Psychological consequences of abortion have considerably been neglected. Several barriers made findings limited. Different types of psychological side effects, however, experienced by the study population require more intensive attention because of chronic characteristic of psychological disorders, and women's health impact on family and population health.
KEYWORDS: Abortion, Pregnancy complications, Psychology, Women health
PMID: 22952518
The source of the experience
PubMedConcepts, symbols and science items
Concepts
Symbols
Science Items
Activities and commonsteps
Activities
Overloads
DepressionIllegal abortion
Psychological trauma