Abstract
It is reported that one out of every four women experience miscarriage.
Literature reports that many who have experienced such a loss felt the need
to speak about their loss in order to move on through their grief. These
people also felt that this was a time when support was required. Yet, these
individuals also reported that there was often silence surrounding this event.
This study attempted to compare society's views about miscarriage against
those about another type of loss, namely the death of a spouse in order to
ascertain if miscarriage was also viewed as a loss, and to determine what the
perceptions are concerning the levels of emotions expected after miscarriage,
and the expected impact this event would have on an individual. Results
indicated that although miscarriage was also viewed as a loss that required
mourning, the level of emotions expected were less severe than those
associated with spousal loss. In addition, the expected impact of the event included more avoidance thoughts and behaviours for those who had
experienced miscarriage. Analysis of the questionnaires of 6 participants who
had experienced miscarriage, provided varied results, however significantly,
50% of these people reported that they often avoided thinking or talking about
the event, and often avoided dealing with their feelings. Further research is
however required in order to check if there is a correlation between such
avoidance and the reported silences.
