Journals

Disruptions in maternal-infant bonding are shown to be the mediating variable between maternal distress and the subsequent expression of childhood asthma. When bonding is repaired, it seems that children’s asthmatic symptoms diminish or remit. This study evaluated 16 asthmatic children before and after their mothers were treated with bonding therapy. Fourteen improved on 11 measures, including reduction in STEP classification system and medication use. Thirteen children were able to stop all medications. The links between bonding disruptions,

There have been many recent studies set up to examine the characteristics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Sleeping Disorders (SDO), some separately and others to determine whether or not there is a link between them. To control behavior, medication is the most frequent method of treatment for ADHD, even though there is not yet an understanding of long-term effects of chemical intervention.

Abstract: In the 1980’s parents in large numbers were first introduced to the sensitive, perceptive, conscious, and cognitive prenate. This paper summarizes the evidence from major research findings, demonstrating that prenates are 1) sensitive and aware, 2) learn and dream, and 3) are social and communicative. Well-designed experimental programs in prenatal enrichment confirm the intelligence and receptivity of womb babies. A closing section describes the special resources now available to parents who want to deliberately enhance prenatal bonding and communication.

Perinatal clinical psychology deals with infant mental development, primary parent-child relationships, and problems related to nurturing and parenting activities of the woman and the couple during the prenatal and neonatal period. Its aims are promoting positive influences and preventing risk elements for the child’s development and for the parents raising the child, thus providing support to primary relationships. Perinatal clinical psychology studies intra-psychic, interpersonal, and trans-generational mental processes.

Autism is currently occurring in one in 10,000 children in Europe. The incidence in the US has been steadily increasing over the last years to a figure at least 4 times as high. It has become an issue of primary importance for modern society. Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the body, which is released in the posterior pituitary gland and controls a number of bodily functions. However, since the 90’s, its psychoactive component is being investigated and is becoming very meaningful in diagnosis and therapy of both psychiatry and psychology.

In recent decades perinatal clinical psychology and infant research has shown how neurological maturation of the newborn and infant brain is due to learning from maternal care: properties of baby’s mind development are conditioned by maternal care, and the baby’s primary mental development conditions the future child and adult mental development. Research has also shown that maternal care may be modulated by childbirth pain. The experience of pain may increase and enrich maternal care, and its suppression may depress the mother’s ability in maternal care.

This article presents an expanded paradigm for understanding the pervasive impact of subtle parent-child interactions that cause experiences of shock, trauma, and stress during the first three years of life. Drawn from quantitative, qualitative, applied evidence-based practice, case formulation research methods, and a comprehensive review of related research, it uses the term “developmental trauma” to describe these early experiences. The article also places shock, trauma, and stress on a continuum and charts their impact on the development of individuals, couples, and families.

Currently, the rate of circumcision is declining in the United States (The Circumcision Reference Library, n.d.). Estimates vary from one in six men circumcised worldwide (Dunsmuir and Gordon, 1999) to one in three according to a 2008 report from the World Health Organization. This paper explores the historical roots of circumcision and where the procedure stands today, from a practical and an ethical perspective. The current debate over whether to circumcise or not to circumcise young males is explored through the lens of a prenatal and perinatal psychology student.

In recent years it has been shown that an integrated linkage of gynecology, obstetrics, and psychotherapy resulted in an astoundingly low rate of premature births among the pregnant women cared for. Many physical problems in pregnancy should be regarded within the entirety of physical and emotional processes.