Journals

Neşe Karabekir details the work of her and her husband, Dr. Hakan Coker, in Turkey (Birth with No Regret) and introduces the professional role of a birth psychologist.

Dr. Wendy Anne McCarty is a global holistic educator, mentor, and practitioner serving professionals and families. She specializes in optimizing spiritual human potential and relationships from the beginning of life and repairing early-origin patterns at any age to transform lives now. Her work draws from pre and perinatal psychology, energy psychology healing modalities, consciousness studies, and authentic spirituality. She was the co-creator and Founding Chair of the Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology Program, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.

This chapter (excerpted from Dr. Odent's 2015 book, Do we need midwives?, provides an overview of the Primal Health Databank. Large-scale studies in the databank implicate the birth process and obstetric interventions in long-term outcomes, thus supporting the need for a paradigm shift

The aim of this article is to report the results of an Internet-based survey conducted in Japan concerning the four types of children’s memories: (i) birth memories; (ii) womb memories; (iii) life-between-life or prelife memories (memories before conception); and (iv) past-life memories. A child having one type of these memories often possesses other types (Ohkado & Ikegawa, 2014). It is expected that analyzing these four types of memories simultaneously will shed new light on children’s psychology.

One of the important differences between Homo sapiens and the other primates is the condition of pregnancy and birth. Because of the upright walk and the larger brain size of Homo sapiens, the birth channel became too narrow to accommodate birth after a long pregnancy. The evolutionary solution was the shortening of human pregnancy from about 21 months to only nine months. The consequence of this was the so-called “physiological prematurity” of human newborns.

Abstract: Birth is life-altering event. Under the best circumstances, it is a happy one. Labor and delivery can be empowering, with mothers feeling that they have accomplished something great. Unfortunately, birth can also be difficult, overwhelming, and for some, traumatic. Without intervention, childbirth-related trauma and PTSD can last for years, coloring how women feel about themselves as mothers, and potentially marring their relationships with partners and babies. Birth trauma and breastfeeding intersect in some key ways. Birth trauma can negatively impact breastfeeding.

William Emerson, PhD, is a renowned and early pioneer in the field of pre- and perinatal psychology. He practiced pre- and perinatal psychotherapy for more than 40 years, specializing in regression therapy and developing and implementing methods for treating pre- and perinatal trauma in infants, children and adults. He was the first in the world to develop treatment techniques for infants, including psychotherapeutic interventions. He is a renowned workshop leader, writer, and international lecturer and has been active in promoting research and practice in pre- and peri-natal psychology.

Suzanne Arms is an author, teacher, photojournalist, practical visionary and activist. She is a mother and grandmother, and strong and vocal supporter of APPPAH, a champion of midwifery and empowered women and a passionate and compassionate speaker. The second of her seven books, Immaculate Deception: A New Look at Childbirth, was named a best Book of the Year by the New York Times in 1975 and sold over 250,000 copies. Arms received a Lamaze Lifetime Achievement Award and was named A Living Treasure by Mothering Magazine for her work as an agent of change.