Relationship between birth pain and some psychiatric features

Aim: There are many factors affecting the perception of and response to labor pain. They include prenatal training, culture, anxiety level of mother and personality traits. Aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the level of pain perceived by women giving natural birth and personality traits or anxiety levels. Material and Methods: The study included 101 pregnant women who were planned to give natural birth and were admitted to delivery room after the labor started. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, Visual Pain Scale (VPS), Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3), Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity (LEIDS) and Big Five Scale of Personality Traits in Turkish were used to evaluate the patients. Results: No significant association was determined between VPS and any other scale (P>0.05). A weak association was found between ASI-3 total point and extraversion (r=0.228) and openness (r=0.201) sub-dimensions (P<0.05). There were also weak associations between extraversion sub-scale of Big Five Scale in Turkish and cognitive (r=0.210) and physical (r=0.225) sub-dimensions of ASI-3 (P<0.05). Conclusion: Level of pain felt during birth labor depends on many factors. No association was found between labor pain and personality traits, anxiety levels and depression scale parameters in the present study. However, larger studies using higher number of patients could reveal associations between labor pain and personality traits