Are We Okay? Theologically Informed Pastoral and Clinical Care in the Setting of Reproductive Loss
Jennifer Hinderer, PA-C, Duke Divinity School
Reproductive loss, experienced as miscarriage and stillbirth, is increasingly gaining recognition as a clinically traumatic experience. A 2001 study identified approximately 25% of women who experience reproductive loss suffer from symptoms of PTSD for at least one month out from their loss. While these events are widely recognized for the grief they generate, PTSD is far more likely to be overlooked and go untreated. These losses are surrounded by a stigma of silence. As women become more public with their experiences of reproductive loss—within the past year, Duchess Meghan Markle wrote a NYT op-ed linking her loss to greater social injustices, and model Chrissy Teigen posted brutally honest and moving social media content—the narratives of miscarriage and stillbirth specifically highlight the struggle not just with grief, but trauma.
The pastoral and clinical care in the setting of reproductive loss trauma is challenging. Culturally, there is a dearth of ritual available for women to utilize in their healing. Reproductive loss trauma challenges political, medical, and ceremonial social scripts, and more deeply, one’s identity, particularly that of being female within Christian faith. Chaplains and churches alike struggle with appropriate responses to women who suffer these experiences, while confronting significant challenges to their personal faith when ministering in this area. Women who lose pregnancies also report while clinical care is often competent, a perceived lack of clinician sensitivity during this vulnerable time can compound the sense of trauma. In the words of Meghan Markle, we must ask ourselves: Are we okay?
To address this question, three theological explorations of reproductive loss as offered by Serene Jones, Susan Reynolds, and Karen O’Donnell, are examined with the intent to spiritually inform the responses of those coming alongside women recovering from the trauma of miscarriage and stillbirth. Utilizing Judith Herman’s framework for trauma recovery, which requires steps of establishing safety, remembrance and mourning, and reconnection, each of these theological offerings seeks to avoid problematic theodicy. In Hope Deferred: Theological Reflections on Reproductive Loss, Jones addresses the Trinity as a symbol of solidarity with the woman experiencing reproductive loss, which helps establish safety, the foundational stage of trauma recovery. Reynolds’ “From the Site of the Empty Tomb: Approaching the Hidden Grief of Prenatal Loss," exegetes Mary Magdalene’s visit to the tomb, corresponding to the task of remembrance and mourning. Finally, O’Donnell’s concept of imago dei, discussed in “Reproductive Loss:Towards a Theology of Bodies,” informs those endeavoring reconnection.
In addition to grounding Christian understanding of the intricacies associated with reproductive losses, these theologies lend themselves to practical pastoral responses, which will be discussed. Church communities, chaplains, and Christian clinicians may refer to these works to further inform healthy and sound responses to those in their care. Women have deeply longed for meaningful spiritual resources to ascribe to their experiences of loss; Jones, Reynolds, and O’Donnell provide rich insight to respond with hope when asked, are we okay?
The pastoral and clinical care in the setting of reproductive loss trauma is challenging. Culturally, there is a dearth of ritual available for women to utilize in their healing. Reproductive loss trauma challenges political, medical, and ceremonial social scripts, and more deeply, one’s identity, particularly that of being female within Christian faith. Chaplains and churches alike struggle with appropriate responses to women who suffer these experiences, while confronting significant challenges to their personal faith when ministering in this area. Women who lose pregnancies also report while clinical care is often competent, a perceived lack of clinician sensitivity during this vulnerable time can compound the sense of trauma. In the words of Meghan Markle, we must ask ourselves: Are we okay?
To address this question, three theological explorations of reproductive loss as offered by Serene Jones, Susan Reynolds, and Karen O’Donnell, are examined with the intent to spiritually inform the responses of those coming alongside women recovering from the trauma of miscarriage and stillbirth. Utilizing Judith Herman’s framework for trauma recovery, which requires steps of establishing safety, remembrance and mourning, and reconnection, each of these theological offerings seeks to avoid problematic theodicy. In Hope Deferred: Theological Reflections on Reproductive Loss, Jones addresses the Trinity as a symbol of solidarity with the woman experiencing reproductive loss, which helps establish safety, the foundational stage of trauma recovery. Reynolds’ “From the Site of the Empty Tomb: Approaching the Hidden Grief of Prenatal Loss," exegetes Mary Magdalene’s visit to the tomb, corresponding to the task of remembrance and mourning. Finally, O’Donnell’s concept of imago dei, discussed in “Reproductive Loss:Towards a Theology of Bodies,” informs those endeavoring reconnection.
In addition to grounding Christian understanding of the intricacies associated with reproductive losses, these theologies lend themselves to practical pastoral responses, which will be discussed. Church communities, chaplains, and Christian clinicians may refer to these works to further inform healthy and sound responses to those in their care. Women have deeply longed for meaningful spiritual resources to ascribe to their experiences of loss; Jones, Reynolds, and O’Donnell provide rich insight to respond with hope when asked, are we okay?