Midwifery
November 1, 2024
Orli Dahan, Alexander Zibenberg, Alon Goldberg
14 citations
Women who gave birth without medical interventions—such as epidural anesthesia or instruments—reported a significantly higher flow state during labor than those who had interventions. Flow, a positive altered state of consciousness, was measured using the Flow State Scale in 766 Israeli women recruited via social media. All nine dimensions of flow—including challenge-skill balance, sense of control, and transformation of time—applied to childbirth. This finding empirically supports the concept of "birthing consciousness," a peak experience resembling flow. Understanding women's subjective experience during physiological birth can improve clinical care and promote positive birth experiences with health benefits.
Frontiers in global women's health
January 1, 2025
Orli Dahan, Alon Goldberg
4 citations
During physiological childbirth, women who give birth at home report a significantly higher flow state—a sense of empowerment and fulfillment when challenge matches ability—compared to women who give birth in hospitals. This finding, based on 421 Israeli women who experienced physiological labor, shows that the home birth environment is correlated with heightened flow across several dimensions: challenge-skill balance, action-awareness merging, clear goals, unambiguous feedback, concentration, and joy. The birthing environment appears to crucially affect the mental state of women during labor, contributing a novel perspective to discussions on optimizing the childbirth experience.
Midwifery
July 16, 2025
Orli Dahan, Sapir Bar
2 citations
Postnatal debriefing, intended as a therapeutic conversation to help women process birth and prevent distress, can have variable effects, especially for those who experienced trauma. This commentary argues that when debriefing focuses only on women's expectations while ignoring the institutional and relational context of the birth, it can become a form of subtle coercion. This risks shifting responsibility for trauma from systemic failures onto the individual woman, reinforcing gaslighting and epistemic injustice. The authors propose that debriefing should be viewed as an ethically charged relational act, not a neutral task. A set and setting-informed approach may foster deeper validation, accountability, and healing.