A new study published in the Journal of Vaginal Psychology (J Vag Psy) is reporting a possible link between the use of birthing mirrors during vaginal delivery and post-delivery vaginal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.)
The publication, which will be out this Friday, retrospectively surveyed 13425 woman who delivered vaginally while watching their delivery via birthing mirror. The survey revealed that 13400 of the 13425 eligible participants, or 99.8% of respondents (P 0.07,) experienced some form of anxiety provoking or sleep disrupting vaginal memory.
Many participants reported palpitations, tinnitus and tachypnea while using mirrors on hinges, while others reported tremulousness and dizziness while self-grooming with the help of a mirror. One participant reported recurrent dreams of watching the Kool-Aid man exit her vagina during her recalled delivery, which prevented her from being able to navigate the sweetened beverage isle at her local grocery store without developing diaphoresis and photo stigmata.
Another participant reported that while grooming she has recurrent fears of seeing her vagina opening and anemic grapefruit emerging. Dr. Mya Scarybever, the principal investigator of the study, touted the findings as a breakthrough in the study of vaginal PTSD.
“We’ve made some headway in this emerging field as we stretch the understanding of vaginal PTSD.” Dr. Scarybever confirmed that her research team is already conducting a follow-up study that assess prior participants with fMRI as they watch slow motion videos of cannonballs being fired from cannons.
