All babies are special, but some are more special in terms of emotional investment, feelings towards parenting and parental wishes in the relationship. Trauma around conception, pregnancy and birth can be a significant impact on the parent’s capacity to acknowledge and accept the reality of the infant and understand their emotional needs.
This discussion will outline the variety of situations encountered in clinical practice where the representation of the infant and early attachment can be distorted by the circumstances and conflicts in becoming a parent. These include:
- Infants conceived in the face of maternal cancer and serious health issues;
- Infants conceived where a mother has issues in fertility regulation;
- Infants conceived early in life and at the end of reproductive life.
Management and approaches to psychological therapy will be illustrated with case examples.
About Dr Louise Newman
Dr Louise Newman is the Director of Women’s Mental Health at Albert Road Clinic in Melbourne.
Louise is an Australian Developmental Psychiatrist and has a particular interest in the field of infant psychiatry where she specialises in working with parents with babies up to three years of age. These parents often have psychiatric difficulties themselves and the resulting transgenerational issues and impact of trauma on early development is one of her primary research interests. With research staff at Monash University, she is investigating the impact of interventions for high risk parents. In addition, Newman performs refugee research on school aged children investigating the impact of traumatic experiences both before they arrive in Australia and as refugees. She is a strong advocate for young refugees and works to highlight the damage that can be caused to young people by detention and the refugee experience in Australia.
