Main description:

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.

Contents:

Part I. Prenatal Psychology - Origins and Methodology.- Chapter 1. The History of Prenatal Psychology.- Chapter 2. Methodological Levels.- Part II. Empirical Research, Brain and Stress Studies.- Chapter 3. Prenatal Structural Brain Development: Genetic and Environmental Determinants.- Chapter 4. Continuity and Dialog.- Chapter 5. The Pre- and Perinatal Origins of Childhood and Adult Diseases and Personality Disorders.- Chapter 6. Transgenerational Consequences of Perinatal Experiences: Programming of Health and Disease from Mother to Child and Subsequent Generations.- Chapter 7. Prenatal Developmental Origins of Early Brain and Behavior Development, of Self-Regulation in Adolescence, and of Cognition and Central and Autonomic Nervous System Function in Adulthood.- Chapter 8. Prenatal Psychoneuroimmunology.- Chapter 9. Epigenetics.- Chapter 10. Contemporary Environmental Stressors and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes - OPERA.- Chapter 11. Traces of the Invisible World of Becoming - Epigenetics as a Molecular Correlate of Prenatal Psychology.- Part III. Psychosomatics of Pregnancy and Birth.- Chapter 12. Attachment Guided Birth Culture as a Means to Avoid Pre- and Perinatal Health Disorders.- Chapter 13. Mother-Embryo-Dialog (M-E-D).- Chapter 14. Prenatal Roots of Attachment.- Chapter 15. The Psychotherapeutic Treatment of IVF/ICSI Babies: A Clinical Report.- Chapter 16. Improving Pregnancy Outcomes: Effects of an Integrated Linkage of Obstetrics and Psychotherapy.- Chapter 17. On the Psychodynamics of Preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome.- Chapter 18. A Visual Exploration of Psychodynamics in Problematic Pregnancies: Case Studies in Analytic-Aesthetic Art Therapy.- Chapter 19. Eric: Case study of an experienced one twin loss.- Chapter 20. Love, Pregnancy, Conflict and Solution: On the Way to an Understanding of Conflicted Pregnancy.- Chapter 21. Conflict of Pregnancy: Experiences from a Gynaecological and Psychotherapeutic Practice.- Chapter 22. On the History of the Pregnancy Conflict.- Part IV. Neonatology.- Chapter 23. Prenatal Bonding, the Perinatal Continuum and the Psychology of Newborn Intensive Care.- Chapter 24. Relating to the Preterm Child.- Part V. Psychotherapy.- Chapter 25. Introduction- The Prenatal Dimension in Psychotherapy.- Chapter 26. Therapy Stories for Prenatal and Perinatal Experiences: How Young Children Express Prenatal and Perinatal Experiences in Psychotherapy.- Chapter 27. Analytical Psychotherapy and the Access to Early Trauma.- Chapter 28. Pre- and Perinatal Baby Therapy: Baby Body Language.- Chapter 29. The Quality of an Original Experience of Being: The Fundamentals of Body-Psychotherapy in the Context of Prenatal Psychology.- Chapter 30. Prenatal Regression in Psychotherapy.- Chapter 31. The Arc of Life: Continuity between Conception and Death. Art therapy and Prenatal Psychology.- Chapter 32. Psychological Aspects of the First Trimester.- Chapter 33. Pre- and Periconceptional and Prenatal Psychology: Early Memories and Preverbal Approaches.- Chapter 34. Stress, Trauma, and Shock: The Failures and Successes of Cathartic Regression Therapy.- Chapter 35. Psychotherapy with infants and children.- Chapter 36. Birth Trauma: The Psychological Effects of Obstetrical Interventions.- Chapter 37. Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant-Psychotherapy: Transition to Parenthood.- Part VI. Prevention.- Chapter 38. On the Fundamentals and Necessities of Promoting Parental Competence.- Chapter 39. Introduction to Prenatal Bonding (BA)*.- Chapter 40. The Impact of Parental Conflict on the Intrauterine Realm.- Chapter 41. Post-Partum Mood Disorders: Prevention by Prenatal Bonding (BA).- Chapter 42. Family Midwifes: Early prevention built on long-term trust and respect.- Chapter 43. Early Care Networks in Germany and Initiation of the Pforzheim Study.- Part VII. Cultural Psychology.- Chapter 44. Prenatal Dimension of Cultural Psychology.- Chapter 45. Reflections about the Interplay of Prenatal and Postnatal Experience.- Chapter 46. Are Music Taste and Language Development Influenced by Prenatal Acoustic Experience?.- Chapter 47. Philosophical Aspects of Womb Life Based on the Work of Peter Sloterdijk.- Chapter 48. The Prenatal Dimension - Images in History, Art and Therapy.- Chapter 49. The Mental Echo of Preverbal Existence.- Chapter 50. Prenatal Psychology Holds the Key: Thoughts about the Cultural Meaning of Prenatal Psychology.