The Impact of Trauma on the Embryo and Fetus: An Application of the Diathesis-Stress Model and the Neurovulnerability-Neurotoxicity Model

Today embryology and fetal research offers consistent findings that nature
and nurture overlap. The relational and environmental world of the mother powerfully influences the
development of her embryo and fetus. Early pre- and post-natal experiences, including early trauma, are
encoded in the implicit memory of the fetus, located in the subcortical and deep limbic regions of the maturing
brain. These memories will travel with us into our early days of infancy and beyond and more importantly, these
early experiences set our ongoing physiological and psychological regulatory baselines. The diathesis-stress
and neurovulnerability-neurotoxicity models are applied to the neuroscience research on stress, trauma and
psychopathology and these same models can shed light on prenatal development. Given the knowledge on
early brain development and the impact of trauma on both the mother and her baby, it is vital that we recognize
and find ways to buffer and protect the mother and her embryo/fetus. KEY WORDS: gastrulation, neurulation,
neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, myelination, neurotoxicity, neurovulnerability, diathesis-stress model, blastocyst,
embryo, fetus.