Psychodynamic and Neuroscientific Perspectives on Motherhood

ABSTRACT

Psychoanalytic perspectives on parenting and child development have been well articulated in the literature. With advances in neuroimaging methods, recent interest has focused on the neural circuits that may support caregiving in human subjects. In this issue, we consider the value of psychodynamic and neuroscientific perspectives as they pertain to the complex but critical transition to motherhood, and the value of this interdisciplinary approach to probing parental reflective functioning and pathways to the intergenerational transmission of trauma.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychoanalysis
• neuroscience
• motherhood
• reflective functioning
• trauma

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helena J. V. Rutherford

Helena J.V. Rutherford, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Yale Child Study Center and Deputy Course Director and Course Tutor, Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology MRes, University College London and Yale Child Study Center.

Linda C. Mayes

Linda C. Mayes, MD is Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology and Chair at Yale Child Study Center. She is Special Advisor to the Dean, Yale School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor in Psychology at Sewanee: The University of the South.