Office Location: 1817 S Main Street, Suite 10 SLC, UT 84115 | Phone 801 . 859 . 4142
Align Integration & Movement
  • Home
  • Work with Me
    • Request an Appointment
    • Rates & Insurance
    • Orthopedic & Pelvic Health Physical Therapy
    • Visceral Manipulation
    • Biofield Tuning®
    • Restore Room: Enhance your healing with Whole Body Vibration & The Vitalizer Chi Machine
    • NeuroKinetic Therapy™
    • Nutritious Movement™
    • Workshops
    • Testimonials
    • Resources
  • Blog
  • About Me
    • About Me
    • My Philosophy
  • Store
  • Podcast

Pre and Perinatal Psychology

9/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ana Tablas
This August I enrolled in a year long study of pre and perinatal psychology: The Prenatal and Perinatal Education (PPNE) Certificate program.  There are 11 Modules in this program and after each module I have the opportunity to assimilate my learning with an essay, slide presentation, case study, movement or art project. 
As I move through the course work you will see more and more blogs on this topic!
"How we enter the world plays a crucial role in how we live in it." -Thomas Verny, MD and author

What is Pre and Perinatal Psychology?

"Prenatal and perinatal psychology is the interdisciplinary study of the earliest periods in human development, including conception, time in the womb, experiences during and after birth, and experiences with caregivers and the family system through the first year following birth.  Theory and research in multiple disciplines, including embryology, morphogenesis, bioengineering, evolutionary biology, psychophysiology, behavioral perinatology, neurobiology  affective neuroscience, attachment, and traumatology, provide the foundation for the exploration of how experiences during this critical developmental period impact an individual. Knowledge from these fields illuminates the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional impacts of our earliest experiences and how they form enduring response patterns that shape our development, behavior and health over the life span" (1).
The Reader's Digest version of this definition:  Our health throughout our lifespan is shaped in the womb and within the first few years.  Our nervous system, our beliefs & behaviors are primed and imprinted by our environment: our birth mother and our primary caregivers.

Why is the perinatal period important to human development?

  • Bonding/Attachment.  The bond between parent/caregiver and child has been studied since the 1950-60's.  John Bowlby studied the impact of the caregiver's behavior on human development. Bowlby's research supported the importance of consistent, loving, sensitive responsiveness of the primary caregiver to develop a secure bond or attachment that will form the foundation for how the child will relate to others in all relationships throughout its lifetime. In this blog post on understanding the nervous system, I share a video demonstration of one of Bowlby's renown experiments: "The Still Face Experiment." 
  • Epigenetics.  The work of Bruce Lipton, PhD really brought forward the research to confirm that its not just the DNA in the genes that create the human, the environment has great influence HOW genes express.  The environment that affects the developing fetus includes thoughts, feelings and stresses of the mother, as well as chemicals/toxins in the environment from nutrition and pollution.  The take home message here, is that, how parents and caregivers interact with the baby before conception, and in the womb, can influence development of babe, and even future generations.  Supporting families in the first few years of baby's life is vital for lifelong health.
  • ACES study. The Adverse Childhood Experience Study demonstrates the impact between unresolved early trauma and the onset of adult chronic illness, both mental and physical.  The ACE study measured impacts of 10 types of traumas: racism, bullying, watching a sibling being abused, losing a caregiver (grandmother, mother, grandfather, etc.), homelessness, surviving and recovering from a severe accident, witnessing a father being abused by a mother, witnessing a grandmother abusing a father, involvement with the foster care system, involvement with the juvenile justice system, etc.  "Adults need to understand their history and acknowledge how it affects them in the present. Early difficulty does not need to be re-experienced to be healed. However, the person who has such a history needs to make sense of what happened and feel settled around it. Dysfunctional compensation patterns are part of the survival pattern for adults who had to respond in these ways when the early trauma was occurring. These compensation patterns, which have outlived their usefulness for the most part, are brought to light without shame and then transformed with compassion and the presence of an attuned therapist trained in early trauma resolution" (2).
  • Economics.  In the United States we are seeing an "alarming rise in prematurity, low-birth weights, surgical births, autism, ADHD, childhood aggression and depression, asthma, overweight and obese children, attachment disorders, learning disabilities, and the use of psychiatric drugs to manage children's conditions, as well as a rise in the number of children in foster care, adolescent homicide, child abuse and teen pregnancy" (3).  The research supports that investing in human potential from zero to 3 years of age can build and nurture  families, communities and the future of our economic stability (3).

What is possible?

Potential parent/s can prime the environment for baby's success:
  • conscious/loving conception
  • communicate and connect with babe in the womb: talk, sing or play music.  Let babe know that if having an intense emotion such as anger, fear or stress, that it is not about them, it is about the incident that has occurred  
  • understand or tune into their own emotions/traumas/stress that may impact their wellbeing and nervous system (baby is regulating off of your nervous system) 
  • seek good prenatal care and choose minimal intervention during birth, skin to skin contact, breastfeed
References:
1.  Ann Diamond Weinstein, Prenatal Development and Parents' Lived Experiences  (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016), p 5.
2. Kate White, MA, LMT, & Myrna Martin, MN, RCC, RCST,  "Pre and Perinatal Experiences For Health & Healing," Pathways to Family Wellness Issue 36.
3. 
Wendy Anne McCarty, PhD, RN, DCEP &  Marti Glenn, PhD, "Investing in Human Potential From the Beginning of Life: Key to Maximizing Human Capital," Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health 23 (2), Winter 2008.


 
Susan McLaughlin is a physical therapist who specializes in the management of pelvic floor and orthopedic dysfunctions. She is the owner of ALIGN integration|movement in Salt Lake City, UT.  Helpful tips and other self care strategies can be found at www.alignforhealth.com.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Susan McLaughlin,
    Physical Therapist

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    FEEL GOOD SERIES:
    Movement videos for download

    Picture

    Products I love:

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Props for home:

    Disclosure: I only recommend programs and products that I would use myself.  If you use these links to purchase something, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.  Thank you.  

    Categories

    All
    Alignment
    Back Pain
    Breathing
    Chronic Pain
    Core Stabilization
    Fascial Health
    Foot Health
    Healing The Nervous System
    Hip Pain
    Knee Pain
    Lower Extremity
    Neck And Upper Extremity
    Pelvic Health
    Postpartum Healing
    Pregnancy
    Psoas Release
    Self Care
    Shoulder Girdle
    Shoulder Pain
    Si Joint Pain
    Spine
    Thoracic Mobility
    Transversus Abdominis
    Treatment For Si Dysfunction
    Walking
    Wrist

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2022
    May 2022
    November 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Office:  1817 S Main Street, Suite 10 | SLC, UT 84115
Located in the Forrester Office Complex


ALIGN integration | movement, PLLC.  All rights reserved.
@2012-2023
​Medical Disclaimer        Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
Good Faith Estimate
​

Contact:  Susan McLaughlin, PT 801.859.4142
susan@alignforhealth.com