RESUMEN
Psychotherapists often experience stress while providing psychotherapy, in particular when working with difficult presentations such as suicidality. As part of a larger study on the treatment of recently suicidal college students with borderline traits, 6 therapists in training collected their own salivary samples for alpha-amylase (AA) and cortisol (C) analyses immediately before and after sessions with 2 selected clients. On average, samples were collected for the same therapist-patient dyad throughout the year-long study to ensure that data reflected therapist responses across stages of treatment. Therapists also completed a working alliance questionnaire and rated perceived session difficulty immediately after each selected session. Contrary to expectations, therapists demonstrated elevated levels of stress as measured by AA and C at presession relative to postsession levels. Greater session difficulty was related to more pronounced declines in AA, whereas a stronger working alliance was linked to more pronounced reductions in C. Results suggest that physiological stress responses while working with recently suicidal clients with borderline traits occur primarily in terms of session anticipatory anxiety, whereas AA and C changes may be affected differently by factors such as session difficulty and working alliance. This is a pilot study, limited by its sample size, but the design, findings, and inclusion of physiological measures present an initial step in an essential line of research.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To compare maternal and neonatal outcomes after successful and failed trials of labor after cesarean in women at term, excluding uterine ruptures, and to examine predictors of successful and failed trials of labor. STUDY DESIGN: Matched maternal and neonatal data from 1993-1999 in women with singleton term pregnancies with prior cesarean undergoing trial of labor were reviewed. Women with uterine rupture were excluded. Maternal and neonatal outcomes were analyzed for successful and failed trials. Predictors of success and failure were examined. RESULTS: 1284 women and their neonates were available for analysis. 1094 (85.2%) had a vaginal birth and 190 (14.8%) underwent repeat cesarean. Failed trials of labor were associated with higher incidence of choriamnionitis (25.8% vs. 5.5%, P<.001), postpartum hemorrhage (35.8% vs. 15.8%, P<.001), hysterectomy (1% vs. 0%, P=.022), neonatal jaundice (17.4% vs.10.2%, P=.004) and composite major neonatal morbidities (6.3% vs. 2.8%, P=.014). CONCLUSION: Failed trial of labor in women at term with prior cesarean is associated with increased maternal and neonatal morbidities.