Journal article
Unresolved Trauma and Reorganization in Mothers: Attachment and Neuroscience Perspectives
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol.10(JAN), 110
0
01/01/2019
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00110
PMCID: PMC6363675
PMID: 30761051
Abstract
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.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Unresolved Trauma and Reorganization in Mothers: Attachment and Neuroscience Perspectives
- Creators
- Udita Iyengar - King's College LondonPurva Rajhans - University of IowaPeter Fonagy - University College LondonLane Strathearn - University of Iowa, Stead Family Department of PediatricsSohye Kim - Baylor College of Medicine
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Frontiers in Psychology, Vol.10(JAN), 110
- Event
- 0
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media S.A
- DOI
- 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00110
- PMID
- 30761051
- PMCID
- PMC6363675
- ISSN
- 1664-1078
- eISSN
- 1664-1078
- Copyright
- © 2019 Iyengar, Rajhans, Fonagy, Strathearn and Kim.
- Grant note
- This study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD065819), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA026437). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of these institutes or the National Institutes of Health. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2019
- Academic Unit
- Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
- Record Identifier
- 9983756977802771
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