Prenatal and Perinatal Trauma Case Formulation: Toward an Evidence-Based Assessment of the Origins of Repetitive Behaviors in Adults

Historically, the practice of treating adults for prenatal and perinatal trauma has consisted of individual practitioners’ modalities that lacked empirical validation around treatment specificity or efficacy. Yet, their commitment to understanding the origins of behaviors has provided hope for clients challenged with life-long problems. This paper describes, based on a review of the literature, a first step towards integrating prenatal and perinatal psychology theory and practice knowledge with current case formulation and evidence-based practice models. The goal was to create a coherent and reliable assessment method to serve as a guide for students and professionals and also test its efficacy. The author, using the new assessment protocol, interviewed 6 participants with long-standing repetitive behaviors. Results revealed that the residual effects of prenatal and perinatal trauma were identifiable in each participant. Future studies will test inner-observer agreement with this prenatal and perinatal trauma case formulation and apply the assessment information toward improving treatment outcomes in adult clients’ long-standing repetitive behaviors. Key Words: Prenatal, perinatal, psychotherapy, adult, trauma, case formulation, assessment, evidence-based practice, qualitative methods, descriptive analysis, quantitative measure