This study is an application of the Bick method to research aiming at revealing and investigating women's emotional experience of delivery. Observations were carried out in an obstetric ward during nineteen months. The observations were reported, supervised and later analyzed. The results revealed that delivery is a potentially disorganizing moment. Due to women's regressive condition, it may produce emotional overload and trigger a state of psychic vulnerability in women, which has an emotional impact on the observer and the professionals. The use of defensive mechanisms by the professionals was observed which interfered in the professional-patient interaction. The observer's psychic availability and non-intrusive position, which characterize the Bick method, enabled him/her to get in contact with the emotional experience of delivery. The study suggests the need for revising professional practices related to the handling of the emotional aspects of delivery. Both clinical and research implications of the findings are discussed.
Bick method; Delivery; Obstetric ward, Assistance