Describe Effect of Abortion on the Woman's Mental Health

Effect of abortion on the woman’s mental health

Research Pre-Proposal
First and Last Name
Capella University
Effect of abortion on the woman’s mental health
The following paper is a pre-proposal for a research project to be carried out. The proposed research study focuses on how abortion affects the mental health of the woman who has undergone the abortion. This research pre-proposal covers the research problem, review of existing literature on the topic, and research design. Techniques for data collection and analysis are also described. In addition, ethical and cultural relevant considerations are discussed.
Research Problem
Significance of the problem
A lot of women and even men are now regretting their decision to encourage an abortion or get an abortion, and a lot of people seek assistance and support to cope with grief. Some women suffer psychological stress following an abortion. While not all abortions result in obvious distress to every woman, there are nonetheless many women who really struggle later on (Herd et al., 2016). The proposed research study is significant as it will highlight how undergoing an abortion harms the mental health of women. It will show how abortion is associated with poor mental health. Researchers have reported that nearly 50% of post-abortive individuals might require antidepressant medications at some point during their lives, which is often related back to problems after undergoing an abortion (Fergusson, Horwood & Ridder, 2011).
To cope following an abortion, a lot of women feel relieved following the procurement of abortion. Some individuals have a feeling of sadness but with time they deal with it in a manner that is acceptable to them (Klick, 2011). Some of the symptoms of stress and mental health problems after an abortion are as follows: tearfulness; the woman feels distant from her existing children; sleeping problems; the woman feels the need to replace the pregnancy; the woman feels difficulty to be close to pregnant women or infants; flashbacks; she has depressed feelings; and she is unable to maintain to normal routine. In addition, the woman experiences emotions like grief, guilt, anger and sense of loss; suffers panic attacks and anxiety; as well as disturbing nightmares and/or dreams (Bellieni & Buonocore, 2013). In cases that are severe, the individual could become self-harming, suicidal, become dependent on alcohol and drugs, or indulge in risk-taking behaviours (Russo, 2014). The proposed research study is also significant as it will reveal the comparative risk of mental health problems linked to undergoing an abortion in comparison with alternatives to abortion.
Benefits of the research project
The primary group of people who would benefit from the proposed research is women who have had an abortion and are experiencing mental health problems as a result of the abortion procedure. The research project is of benefit as it will bring to light the need to develop relevant counselling and therapeutic programmes aimed at enabling women who have undergone an abortion to work toward recovery from troubled abortion procedures. The findings of the research would help inform the development of counselling that is open to individuals who have a feeling of distress after an abortion procedure, be it many years later or immediately after.
Literature Review
Abortion could emotionally affect every woman in a different way. Some women who have had abortion reveal that they have a sense of relief. The reasons for having a sense of relief differ from one woman to another (Steinberg, McCulloch & Adler, 2014). Psychological and emotional effects after abortion are more prevalent in comparison to physical side effects and in most cases range from serious complications like depression to a mild regret. The emotional side effects of abortion, as Russo (2014) reported, are actually as factual as the somatic ones.
A noteworthy issue concerning the liability of adverse psychological and emotional outcomes is on what the woman believes with regard to the baby inside of her. The women who maintain that it is a baby have a higher likelihood of experiencing negative emotional side effects, whereas women who maintain that it is not a baby are less likely to experience negative psychological or emotional consequences (Coleman, 2011). Potential psychological and emotional risks of abortion include the following: relationship issues, depression, guilt, eating disorders, anger, regret, loss of self-confidence, nightmares or insomnia, a sense of isolation or loneliness, suicidal feelings and thoughts, shame, and anxiety. The duration and intensity of the aforementioned consequences vary from woman to woman (Fergusson, Horwood & Boden, 2013). Any woman who has undergone an abortion can experience unexpected psychological or emotional consequences. However, women in most instances state that having abortion affected them more than they had anticipated. Even so, some women are in fact, more vulnerable to experience some kind of psychological or emotional struggle (Steinberg, McCulloch & Adler, 2014).
Individuals who have a higher chance of experiencing negative psychological or emotional consequences include: women who have ethical or moral opinions that disagree with abortion; women who have been persuaded, forced, or coerced to abort; and individuals who obtain an abortion for fetal or genetic abnormalities (Major et al., 2012). Other are women who have religious beliefs which oppose abortion; women who get an abortion during the later phases of the pregnancy; women who are not supported by their partner or significant other; and women who have past psychological or emotional concerns (Major et al., 2012).
A study of the hospital records of about 57,000 Medicaid patients in the State of California demonstrated that in comparison with women who had delivered, women who had undergone abortions in the State were in fact, one-hundred-and-sixty, more likely to be taken to a hospital for psychiatric treatment within the first ninety days after the abortion (Herd et al., 2016). In another research, researchers studied post-abortion patients just eight weeks following their abortion. The findings revealed that 44 percent of those patients complained of having nervous disorders, 31 percent regretted their abortion decision, 36 percent had experienced disturbances in sleep, and 11 percent of the patients had been given a prescription of psychotropic medication (Biggs, Neuhaus & Foster, 2015).
In Canada, a five-year retrospective research study in 2 provinces revealed that there is a very much utilization of psychiatric services amongst women who had a history of abortion. The researchers learned that twenty-five percent of women who had undergone abortions visited psychiatrists in comparison to only three percent of the control group (Russo, 2014). In essence, women that have previously obtained abortions have a higher likelihood than women who have not had abortions to require admission to psychiatric hospitals afterwards. Women who have a history of multiple abortions, divorced or separated women, and teenagers are particularly at high risk (Biggs, Neuhaus & Foster, 2015).
Given that a lot of post-abortive women utilize repression as a mechanism of dealing with the abortion, Klick (2011) reported that there might be an extended period of denial before women who obtained an abortion seeks psychiatric care. It is worth mentioning that those repressed feelings might actually bring about psychosomatic diseases as well as behavioural or psychiatric problems in other areas of that woman’s life. Consequently, a number of counsellors point out that unacknowledged post-abortion distress is in fact, the causative factor in a lot of their female patients, although their female patients have visited them in order to get therapy for apparently different problems (Fergusson, Horwood & Boden, 2013).
A meta-analysis carried out by Coleman (2011) and reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry revealed an 82% increased likelihood of mental health problems amongst individuals who had obtained abortions; almost 11% of the incidence of psychological problems was directly credited to undergoing abortion. The problems comprise suicidal behaviour, drug and alcohol use, depression and anxiety (Coleman, 2011). In Finland, a large-scale research study revealed that the rate of suicide after getting an abortion was almost 6 times higher than the rate of suicide after child delivery (Steinberg, McCulloch & Adler, 2014).
Research design
In the proposed research study, the researcher intends to utilize a quantitative research methodology. With regard to the research design, the researcher will utilize surveys. With the survey research design, the researcher will gather data from a large sample size of 90 people which would be representative of the population.
Research purpose and questions
The purpose of the proposed research study is to look at the effect of abortion on the individual’s mental health. In particular, the proposed study seeks to determine whether obtaining an abortion procedure can actually bring about damage to the woman’s mental condition. The study also seeks to find out the comparative risk of mental health problems linked to obtaining an abortion in comparison to the alternatives to getting an abortion. There are two alternatives to undergoing an abortion. It is notable that instead of getting an abortion, the pregnant woman can decide to deliver the infant and then raise that baby even though she never wanted to have that baby. The second alternative is for her to give birth and subsequently allow the baby to be adopted by other parents (Bellieni & Buonocore, 2013).
Research questions
Does abortion affect a woman’s mental state?
In comparison with the alternatives to abortion, what is the comparative risk of mental health problems linked to getting an abortion? Alternative to getting an abortion essentially includes the other actions that a pregnant woman may take in similar situation. The alternatives are (i) deliver the child and raise the baby that the woman at first never wanted to have; and (i...