Childbirth as Initiation and Transformation: The Wounded Mother
Mauger, Benig
Vol. 11 (1), 1996, 17-30
This essay presents a Jungian interpretation of childbirth as an initiatory and transformative rite that evokes the archetype of the wounded mother. The article explores birth as an archetypal event of transformation, and pregnancy, childbirth and being born as an initiation.
Obstetric Anesthesia Abuse: Delivering Us from Evil
Monk, Hilary
Vol. 11 (1), 1996, 31-54
Sociocultural factors in the perception and meaning of pain within the context of childbirth are presented, along with the use of medication. Cross-cultural information is presented contrasting the use of and attitudes toward obstetrical uses of anesthesia and analgesia with those in contemporary America.
The Emotional Experience of the Fetus: A Preliminary Report
Righetti, Pier Luigi
Vol. 11 (1), 1996, 55-65
An analysis of fetal heart rate, maternal heart rate before delivery, fetal movements, movements of the newborn, and newborn heart rate for 15 mothers were examined. Results showed that : 1) the newborn is more capable of recognizing his emotional state with regard to his own mother when compared to an experience with a different mother; 2) when presented with another mother's heartbeat, he only responds to the rhythm of a noise he heard in the past 9 months, whereas with his mother he not only responds but also is capable of recognizing the heartbeat and gives more creative responses; and 3) it could be hypothesized that different prenatal ego states exist that make the newborn capable of distinguishing among different emotional states of his mother from birth.
Singing Lullabies to Unborn Children: Experiences in Village Vilamarxant, Spain
Montemurro, Rosario N. Rozada
Vol. 11 (1), 1996, 9-16
When pregnant women began singing, clapping, tapping with their hands and feet in performing folk songs and lullabies for two hours a week, they discovered a cascade of psychological benefits, including emotional expression, tension relief, and a powerful group solidarity. Their babies seemed to join them, too. Two older mothers scheduled for Caesareans gave birth spontaneously and confidently. After the babies were born, mothers found themselves more proficient at calming their neonates to sleep and were able to breast feed longer.
Massage with Oil Has More Positive Effects on Normal Infants
Field, Tiffany, Schanberg, Saul, Davalos, Marisabel, & Malphurs, Julie
Vol. 11 (2), 1996, 75-80
In this study, 60 one-month-old normal infants were randomly assigned to a massage group with oil and one without oil. Massage had a soothing/calming influence on the infants, particularly when given with oil. Infants who received massage with oil were less active, showed fewer stress behaviors and head averting, and their saliva cortisol levels decreased more. In addition, vagal activity increased more following massage with oil than without oil.
Self-Rating Assessment of Postnatal Depression: A Comparison of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
Lussier, Veronique, David, Helene, Saucier, Jean-Francois, & Borgeat, Francois
Vol. 11 (2), 1996, 81-92
Two self-report rating scales of depression, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, were administered simultaneously to a large sample of new mothers at 2 and 6 months postpartum. Scores computed as continuous variables yield high correlation coefficients at both moments of measure. Classification of subjects on the basis of recommended cutoff points yielded identical frequencies and defined similar patterns of onset and recovery, but showed a high degree of discrepancy between the two scales in the identification of dysphoric individuals. This low concordance revealed distinct response patterns belonging to divergent subgroups, suggesting that the two instruments are differently attuned to the various aspects of postnatal depression presentation.
The Optimal Adoptive Launch: An Article and Discussion
Michael D. Trout, M.A.
Vol. 11 (2), 1996,
This paper proposes that the act of transferring a newborn
infant from the only mother he has ever known to someone who is, in every
imaginable sense, a stranger, constitutes an act that is far from innocuous
for the baby. It is suggested that our child welfare and adoption practices
would change measurably if we imaged the newborn as an alert and aware
creature, who is watching us; if we behaved as if we really believed that
neither a baby's body nor the baby's history can be owned by anyone except
the baby; if we allowed all of our decisions to be driven by the needs of
each particular baby, and not by the needs of either the birth parents or
the adoptive parents.
Childbirth: The Ordinary Miracle
Gayle Peterson
Vol 11 (2), 1996,
Childbirth is an event of unusual psychological and physical proportions.
Because it is not a neutral event, care must be taken to support the woman
and her family so that the event is positive rather than negative. Factors
are identified that can be implemented in short term prenatal counseling to
contribute to a woman's self-esteem. A preventive counseling model,
addressing the factors brought up in this paper impacts not only a woman's
confidence in mothering, but also her availability for bonding with her
newborn. Psychological support which includes an active participation in
the process, and is based on an individual woman's needs, over an
ideological method of childbirth preparation or type of childbirth
(natural, medicated, or cesarean) yields the most positive results for
women experiencing childbirth.
Social Regression and the Global Prevalence of Abortion
Sonne, John C.
Vol. 11 (3), 1997, 125-150
The author advances the thesis that the high but largely ignored global prevalence of abortion (amounting to almost 25% of the unborn being aborted) is mobilizing an almost universally denied and repressed dread of being aborted residing to various degrees in the unconscious of most humans, and that this dread and the defenses against facing it are transferentially acted out in the form of social and social regression.
Effects of the Firstart Method of Prenatal Stimulation on Psychomotor Development: The First Six Months
Lafuente, M. J., Grifol, R., Segarra, J., Soriano, J., Gorba, M. A., & Montesinos, A.
Vol. 11 (3), 1996, 151-162
This paper explores the effectiveness of the Firstart prenatal stimulation method applied to a sample of maternity patients, with 71 women in the control group and 101 in the experimental group. Both groups were enrolled in the birth preparation course offered at the hospital. In addition, those in the experimental group wore a waistband equipped with small speakers connected to a tape recorder which played a series of eight tapes of violin sounds. Mothers exposed the unborn babies to an average of 70 hours of music from about 28 weeks to the end of pregnancy. After birth, mothers used F. Secadas's "Observational Scale of Development" to chart the onset of behaviors from 0 to 6 months. On 22 items of the scale, behaviors of the experimental group babies were significantly advanced compared to those of the control group in areas such as gross and fine motor activities, linguistic development, some aspects of somato-sensory coordination, and certain cognitive behaviors. (Reprinted in Vol. 12 [3-4], 1998)
Natalism in Fairy Tales
Rhodes, Jeane
Vol. 11 (3), 1996, 163-176
This paper presents natalistic symbology as previously proposed by Otto Rank (1929), Nandor Fodor (1949), T. W. Dowling (1988) and Michael Irving (1989), and proceeds from there to the natalistic analysis of two fairy tales: "Mother Holle," and "Fitcher's Bird." The analysis of the former relies primarily on previously established symbols, whereas the analysis of the latter moves into the more esoteric realm of very early prenatal symbols and is an incomplete analysis.
Interpreting the Dread of Being Aborted in Therapy
Sonne, John C.
Vol. 11 (4), 1997, 195-214
This paper illustrates how the sequelae of prenatal trauma can be transferentially expressed in a variety of pathological symptoms in postnatal life. The meaning of the messages communicated by the traumatized unborn are "known but unthought" by the patient until the associative links are interpreted in therapy. Such interpretations require the therapist to think in terms of prenatal mentation and communication, and to consider the dread of abortion as a possible component in the transference and also in common syndromes that have traditionally been viewed and interpreted as primarily having a postnatal origin. Ten clinical cases are presented.
Sexual Assault and Birth Trauma: Interrelated Issues
Irving, Michael
Vol. 11 (4), 1997, 215-250
A host of corresponding sensations and dynamics may be present during birth and during sexual abuse. Physical, emotional, and environmental similarities between the original experience of birth and sexual abuse imbue these traumas with common symptomology, feelings, and life patterns. In therapy, the symptomology, abreaction and artistic expression of these two issues can be highly similar. These issues and concerns have only been briefly dealt with in the literature.
Celebrating a Return to Earth: Birth in Indigenous Aboriginal, Tibetan, Balinese, Basque and Cherokee Cultures
Maiden, Anne Hubbell
Vol. 11 (4), 1997, 251-264
This paper presents cross-cultural information about attitudes, beliefs, values, and familial and social behaviors associated with bringing children into the world from a variety of indigenous cultures.
