Working with Caesarean Born Adults

Audience and Purpose
This class is designed for practitioners working with caesarean-born adults, not for self-therapy. Karlton aims to share insights and techniques for supporting caesarean-born individuals in clinical practice.

Importance of Language
Language is emphasized as a tool for empowerment and understanding. Naming experiences, like implicit memories, helps individuals feel safer and more in control.

Categories of caesarean Births
The speaker introduces three categories of caesarean births: planned, emergency, and ‘fallacious’ (caesareans are those performed without medical necessity, often due to convenience, cultural pressures). Each category has distinct psychological and emotional impacts on the individual.

Cascade Effect
The "cascade effect" refers to medical interventions during labor that can eventually lead to caesareans. Interventions like artificial rupture of membranes, oxytocin, and epidurals can create complications that result in emergency caesareans.

Invasion and Extraction
The process of caesarean birth involves physical invasion and rapid extraction, which can be deeply shocking for the baby. 

Neurological and Emotional Impact
The first minutes after birth are critical for neurological development, with billions of neural connections forming. caesarean-born babies may miss out on this natural process, leading to long-term emotional and psychological challenges.

Symptoms in caesarean-Born Adults
Adults born via caesarean may exhibit symptoms like tactile defensiveness, difficulty with intimacy, and challenges with starting or finishing projects. These could possibly be traced back to their birth experience.


Gratitude and Conflict
Emergency caesarean-born individuals may feel gratitude for being saved but also anger or confusion about the trauma of their birth. This conflict can manifest in complex emotional patterns.

Role of Practitioners
Practitioners are encouraged to approach caesarean-born clients with compassion and awareness of their unique birth experiences. Understanding the categories and impacts of caesarean birth can guide therapeutic support.

Regression Approach
Guiding clients back to their self of before the caesarean can open access to their innate agency. Questions such as ‘What’s your dream of how you want to be?’ can be helpful. 

Holding the Field for the Client
Being well self-regulated when working with caesarean born clients is of great importance.  As the therapist helps the client feel into the moment, the therapist has to hold the relational field at an optimal rhythm.