Introduction To Prenatal Psychology

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.

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.

This book is designed to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. The focus on behaviour and empiricism has produced a text that is better organized, has fewer chapters, and is somewhat shorter than many of the leading books. The beginning of each section includes learning objectives; throughout the body of each section are key terms in bold followed by their definitions in italics; key takeaways, and exercises and critical thinking activities end each section.

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.