During the course of about 100 years, Prenatal Psychology has developed from an initially intuitive insight within the scope of psychoanalysis into a broad interdisciplinary field of science. Otto Rank began his study of the possible effect of birth experiences in 1904, finally publishing his book the Trauma of Birth in 1923. With these two dates marking Rank's contribution, it can be said that Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology is approximately 100 years of age. Since then, due to the laborious, dedicated work of Pioneers in the field, what was once a hidden mystery now is common knowledge. Prenatal Life Matters! Today, there is more and more evidence on how our early beginnings from pre-conception to early after birth can affect our Health, our Relationships and our Quality of Life. In this book, you will find a complete guide as to what we now know in the field of Prenatal Psychology and you can get vital keys to understanding how our primal experience shapes who we become.
The handbook synthesizes the comprehensive interdisciplinary research on the psychological and behavioral dimensions of life before, during, and immediately after birth. It examines how experiences during the prenatal period are associated with basic physiological and psychological imprints that last a lifetime and explores the ways in which brain networks reflect these experiences. Chapters offer findings on prenatal development, fetal programming, fetal stress, and epigenetics. In addition, chapters discuss psychotherapy for infants – before, during, and after birth – as well as prevention to promote positive health and well-being outcomes. Topics featured in this handbook include: Contemporary environmental stressors and adverse pregnancy outcomes The psychology of newborn intensive care. Art therapy and its use in treating prenatal trauma. The failures and successes of Cathartic Regression Therapy. Prenatal bonding and its positive effects on postnatal health and well-being. The role of family midwives and early prevention. The cultural meaning of prenatal psychology. The Handbook of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, as well as graduate students in a wide range of interrelated disciplines, including developmental psychology, pediatric and obstetrical medicine, neuroscience, infancy and early child development, obstetrics and gynecology, nursing, social work, and early childhood education.
Taking the understanding of birth psychology and infant psychology one step earlier, this book addresses the psychology of the nine months of life prior to birth. With advances in technology, especially 3D and 4D sonography, it is now possible to observe prenatal behavior in utero. This book addresses the theory, underlying physiological mechanisms, and psychology of the human person prior to birth.
In this first compendium in the growing literature of behavioral teratology, readers will discover an easy-to-access, concise presentation that covers a huge range of subjects. The book synthesizes important findings that help explain why prenatal events may result in abnormal behavior and learning disabilities later in life. It goes further to examine the role of prenatal perturbations in conditions as varied as dyslexia, schizophrenia, fetal alcohol syndrome, and autism.
"Frank Lake's clinical studies led him to conclude that the stress of the pregnant mother would later cause relational and religious difficulties in an unborn child. This work argues that his theories are supported by subsequent empirical studies"--Provided by publisher.
Cultivating Mindfulness to Raise Children Who Thrive introduces an expanded view of human development and health, which begins before conception and moves through pregnancy, early childhood and adulthood. This book is a call for all prenatal and perinatal professionals and policy makers to appreciate indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing and integrate them with scientific evidence in the care of expectant parents and their babies. It explains how this could also tackle pressing social issues facing the modern world and favour social innovations through a revaluation of preconception, pregnancy, birth and childcare practices. Sansone presents the reader with scientific discoveries of epigenetics, interpersonal neuroscience, quantum physics, attachment, anthropology, prenatal and perinatal psychology and mindfulness, which interestingly resonate with the intuitions of primal wisdom. The book will be of interest to clinicians, policy makers, researchers, parents, and those interested in the prenatal and perinatal roots of human development and well-being.
Did you know that... Every year an increasing number of babies are born prematurely or with behavioral disorders? Learn how thinking positively and communicating with your partner and/or medical staff can help prevent a preterm birth and aid in the positive development of your unborn child's personality. A baby's in utero experience builds the brain architecture that will determine behavior throughout life? Discover exercises that will help you control stress, fear, guilt, and anger and change unwanted behaviors during pregnancy. Your unborn child has more nerve cells and many more connections among them than an adult? Learn how a fetal love break can help calm your baby and lead to proper nerve and brain development.
The handbook synthesizes the comprehensive interdisciplinary research on the psychological and behavioral dimensions of life before, during, and immediately after birth. It examines how experiences during the prenatal period are associated with basic physiological and psychological imprints that last a lifetime and explores the ways in which brain networks reflect these experiences. Chapters offer findings on prenatal development, fetal programming, fetal stress, and epigenetics. In addition, chapters discuss psychotherapy for infants - before, during, and after birth - as well as prevention to promote positive health and well-being outcomes. Topics featured in this handbook include: Contemporary environmental stressors and adverse pregnancy outcomes The psychology of newborn intensive care. Art therapy and its use in treating prenatal trauma. The failures and successes of Cathartic Regression Therapy. Prenatal bonding and its positive effects on postnatal health and well-being. The role of family midwives and early prevention. The cultural meaning of prenatal psychology. The Handbook of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, as well as graduate students in a wide range of interrelated disciplines, including developmental psychology, pediatric and obstetrical medicine, neuroscience, infancy and early child development, obstetrics and gynecology, nursing, social work, and early childhood education.
This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online. Perinatal psychology is a field devoted to understanding the biopsychosocial experiences of women and men during the transition to parenthood. These experiences include pregnancy, labor, delivery, adjustment and parenting during the postpartum period, lactation, family planning, adoption, infertility, and adjustment to perinatal loss.
Forewords by Jaap van der Wal and Marcy Axness Spirit into Form invites you to explore with mindful, embodied awareness your earliest experiences in this life with curiosity, compassion and creativity. It guides you through developmental milestones, starting with pre-conception, through conception, coming into physical form as an embryo, negotiating the birth canal and hopefully being welcomed at birth. Each stage offers details of embryological development in simple, accessible terms with hand-drawn illustrations, elaborating potential challenges and lifelong effects of having met them. More than a traditional book on embryology, Spirit into Form includes psychological and spiritual aspects and the original embryological potential of this early time.This book is for anyone who wonders about the origins of human life and bodies, as well as personality, relationship and behavioral tendencies. Therapists and practitioners of many types, particularly those with somatic/body-centered or psychological approaches, bodyworkers, movement practitioners, birth practitioners, and also new parents and parents-to-be, can benefit from the gentle, mindful guidance in exploring your earliest beginnings, roots of many issues and strengths, and how to access potential that may have become occluded by challenges and conditions life presents. Cherionna Menzam-Sills's book, Spirit into Form, is based on her long experience as a craniosacral therapist and somatic prenatal and birth therapist. Cherionna takes you on a tour of important developmental stages during gestation. But in addition to that she has much to say about the larger fields of Love, Spirit, and Soul and how they are connected to the body. The scope of the material is wide, broad and encompassing. Cheronna's message is that when we come to understand our early experiences and how they establish in us lifelong patterns, habits, addictions and tendencies, we can begin to integrate, let go, and make new choices. Her book is a subtle distillation of wisdom, stylistic grace, and excellent advice for pregnant or soon-to-be pregnant persons. Highly recommended. -- Thomas R. Verny MD, DHL (Hon), DPsych, FRCPC, FAPAAssociate Editor, Journal of Pre and Peri-natal Psychology and Health (JOPPPAH), Past President APPPAH, Author of The Secret Life of the Unborn Child with John Kelly and Pre-Parenting with Pamela Weintraub. This is an absolutely necessary contemporary creation story that is integrative rather than reductionistic. Cherionna writes a narrative that helps us to enter the mystery of conception, birth and death. It is a narrative that points to a solution found in front of us and in us - our body. Marie-Louise Von Franz, a preeminent Jungian analyst says in her book Creation Myths, that any creation story that unfolds in stages is the "best" creation story. Cherionna unfolds our collective story, which is my story, chapter by chapter with her expert guidance. It is an unfoldment of our embryo as humanity and as embodiment. This is a book that inspires self-compassion, love and altruism as the necessary remedy for healing as a body and a body politic in the context of our planet now. She shows us the steps to recover and make meaning of our embryo - our lived perpetual embryo. Contained herein is the most genuine and authentic nature of her embodied experience. Simultaneously, it is a fountain of authoritative knowledge referencing relevant science superseding all such attempts that have come before yet holding perfectly all its predecessor's. This beautiful and spellbinding book must be required reading to become a full human being inherently complete from a single celled conceptus through the moment of death. -- Michael J. Shea, PhDFounder of SheaHeart.com, A Center for the Study of the Human Heart and Author of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Volumes 1-5.
