Journals

Compared with two surveys of usual care, these data provide strong support for the hypotheses that HypnoBirthing mothers have: fewer medical inductions (3.3%-21.1% difference); less IV fluids (37.9%-42.1% difference); less continuous fetal monitoring (42.4%-44.3% difference; less pitocin infusion (18%-19% difference); fewer artificial rupture of membranes (18.8%-18.9% difference); fewer IV/IM anesthesias (4.4%-5.7% difference); fewer episiotomies (13.3%-15.1% difference); fewer epidural anesthesias (44.6%-49.1% difference); fewer caesarian sections (14.4%-17% difference); less frequent use

Research into maternal-fetal attachment is increasing yet has not yielded substantive scientific results due in part to the lack of a clear definition of the word “attachment.” Furthermore, a controversy currently exists in the literature with debate focused on the use of the word “attachment” as referenced by John Bowlby when discussing the maternal-fetal relationship.

This paper discusses somatically informed parent-prenate counseling/ psychotherapy. It defines and presents the phenomenon called parent-prenate attachment. Further, it reviews the literature on parent-prenate attachment; and also reports on some of the factors that have been found to strengthen, or weaken, the qualities of bonding in this relationship. Finally, the article defines and introduces somatic psychotherapy; and proposes some of the potential ways in which somatic clinical interventions could enhance the practice of parent-prenate psychotherapy.

The Sound of Silence: Journeys Through Miscarriage, edited by Irma Gold. (2011). Capalaba, Queensland: Mostly for Mothers, a division of Wombat Books, 165 pages, ISBN 978-921632-12-9.

Birthing professionals are charged with the responsibility of freeing the baby whose head appears but whose shoulders remain stuck. How they manage this stressful obstacle and how the experience imprints the baby both physiologically and psychologically are examined in this paper through the application of body-centered therapy.

Some psychoanalytic researches are reviewed here to give an overview of how ideas on prenatal life and psychoanalytic ideas on ego-formation got tentatively together during the last century and the first years of the new century. There is a large bow to Ferenczi who published his long paper Thalassa in 1924 after about ten years of thoughts on it that were shared by Maiello, Hidas and Raffai, and Wilheim. Certainly this bow is incomplete. However, we can see how prenatal life becomes more relevant in psychoanalytic research, too.

This article addresses the question, “What are the waterside hypotheses of human evolution”? The environments our Homo Sapiens ancestors adapted to through the evolutionary process remain to a certain extent unknown and open to theoretical investigation. When we do such investigation, it is revealed that there are obstetrical implications of the waterside hypotheses that also bear investigation. This article begins to make the important connections.

This paper will explore the effects on the unborn and newborn child of psychological stress, depression, and other relevant maternal factors in the pre and perinatal period. Particular attention will be paid to the effects of stress on the organization and function of the fetal brain, on neurohormones, the immune system, personality evolution, as well as on the development of many childhood and adult diseases.

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.