Prenatal psychology leads us to recognize boundless opportunities for nurturing our children and the very evolution of our global human family, from pre-conception to embryo and onward. In today’s era, is this an idealist’s utopian vision?

With a worldwide culture embracing technological intervention in conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond, the nature of nurture changes. We find ourselves facing pivotal choices with profound implications: how do we want to put our knowledge forth to nurture evolution?

I promised Congress attendees that I would make available all my slides that contained text content, as well as a bibliography of authors and research references I mentioned. Here you go!

Link to pdf of Powerpoint slides

Bibliography

[Some references are right there in the Powerpoint slides, and some of those I did not include here.]

Axness, M., & Evans, J. (2014). Pre- and perinatal influences on female mental health. In D. L. Barnes (Ed.), Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan. New York: Springer International.

Bustan, M. N., & Coker, A. L. (1994). Maternal attitude toward pregnancy and the risk of neonatal death. American Journal of Public Health, 84(3), 411-414.

Davis, E. P., Glynn, L. M., Hobel, C., Schetter, C. D., Chicz-DeMet, A., & Sandman, C. A. (2007). Prenatal exposure to maternal depression and cortisol influences infant temperament. J. Am. Acad. Child and Adoles. Psychiatry, 46(6), 737-746.

Dossey, L. (1999). Reinventing Medicine:  Beyond Mind-Body To a New Era of Healing. San Francisco: HarperCollins. [It was in this book that I learned about the work of Bernard Grad at McGill U.]

Gluckman, P., & Hanson, M. (2005). The fetal matrix: Evolution, development and disease. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Glynn, L. M., Howland, M. A., Sandman, C. A., Davis, E. P., Phelan, M., Baram, T. Z., & Stern, H. S. (2018). Prenatal maternal mood patterns predict child temperament and adolescent mental health. Journal of Affective Disorders, 228, 83-90.

Insel, T., Kinsley, C., Mann, P., & Bridges, R. (1990). Prenatal stress has long-term effects on brain opiate receptors. Brain Research, 511, 93-97.

Lipton, B. (2005). The Biology of Belief. Santa Rosa, CA: Mountain of Love/Elite Books.

McNeil, T., Schubert, E., Cantor-Graae, E., Brossner, M., Schubert, P., & Henriksson, K. (2009). Unwanted pregnancy as a risk factor for offspring schizophrenia-spectrum and affective disorders in adulthood: a prospective high-risk study. Psychological Medicine, 39, 957-965.

Nathanielsz, P. W. (1992). Life Before Birth: The Challenges of Fetal Development. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co.

Paul, A. M. (2010, October 4). The the first nine months shape the rest of your life: The new science of fetal origins. Time,50-55.

Perry, B. (1995). Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation, and “use-dependent” development of the brain: how “states” become “traits”. Infant Mental Health, 16(4).

Philanthro Films (Writer). (2004). Trauma, Brain & Relationship: Helping Children Heal. In F. N. T. N. C. Conferences (Producer).

Radin, D. (1997). The Conscious Universe. New York: HarperSanFrancisco.

Relier, J.-P. (2001). Influence of maternal stress on fetal behavior and brain development. Biology of the Neonate, 79(3-4), 168-171.

Rini, C. K., Dunkel-Schetter, C., Wadhwa, P. D., & Sandman, C. A. (1999). Psychological adaptation and birth outcomes: the role of personal resources, stress, and sociocultural context in pregnancy. Health Psychology, 18(4), 333-345.

Roe, K. V., & Drivas, A. (1993). Planned conception and infant functioning at age three months: a cross-cultural study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63(1), 120-125.

Rowan, B. (2017). The history of adoption.   Retrieved from https://www.infoplease.com/us/family-trends/history-adoption

Sandman, C. A., Glynn, L., Wadhwa, P. D., Dunkel-Schetter, C., Garite, T., Chicz-DeMet, A., & Hobel, C. (2006). Elevated maternal cortisol early in pregnancy predicts third trimester levels of placental corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH): Priming the placental clock. Peptides, 28, 1547-1563.

Sonne, J. (1997). Magic babies. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 12(2), 61-88.

Van der Bie, G. (2001). Embryology: Early development from a phenomenological point of view. Netherlands: Louis Bolk Institute. [This is where I learned about the merging, rather than “penetration by,” sperm with egg membrane.]