Unresolved Trauma and Reorganization in Mothers: Attachment and Neuroscience Perspectives

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Udita Iyengar¹  Purva Rajhans²  Peter Fonagy⁴  Lane Strathearn³  Sohye Kim² 

[1] Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, United Kingdom;Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, United States;Stead Family Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, United States;Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, United States;Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, United Kingdom;Research Department of Clinical, and Health Psychology, University College London, United Kingdom;Center for Disabilities and Development, University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, United States;Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, United States;Center for Reproductive Psychiatry, Texas Children’s Hospital, United States

关键词: attachment;    reorganization;    unresolved trauma;    intergenerational transmission;    maternal brain;    neuroscience;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00110

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The onset of motherhood is characterized by significant psychological and neurobiological changes. These changes equip the mother to care for her new child. Although rewarding, motherhood is also an inherently stressful period, more so for mothers with unresolved trauma. Past research has looked at how unresolved trauma can hamper a mother’s caregiving response toward her infant, which further affects the development of secure attachment in her own infant. The Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM) has introduced a unique concept of “attachment reorganization” which can be described as a process whereby individuals with unresolved trauma are transitioning toward attachment security based on their enhanced understanding of past and present experiences. Preliminary results from one of our previous studies have shown that, among mothers with unresolved trauma, mothers who themselves demonstrated “reorganizing attachment” toward security, had infants with secure attachment, thereby indicating the potential to halt the intergenerational transmission of insecure attachment. While this concept is of great clinical relevance, further research is required to assess the benefits of attachment reorganization as a protective factor and its positive implications for child development. Thus, the aim of the current review is to expand on the concept of attachment reorganization in mothers with unresolved trauma from both attachment and neuroscience perspectives. To that effect, we will first review the literature on the transition to motherhood from attachment and neuroscience perspectives. Second, we will use attachment and neuroscience approaches to address deviations from normative experiences during motherhood with a specific focus on the role of a mother’s unresolved trauma. Lastly, we will expand on the concept of reorganization and the promise this concept holds in resolving or halting the intergenerational transmission of trauma from mothers to their children.

【 授权许可】

CC BY