Pleck, J.H. (1999). Balancing work and family. Scientific American Presents: Men's Health.
With women's move into the workplace over the last few decades, men's roles have changed as well. Men spend much less of their lives working than they did in the past. Father's are not only becoming more available, but more engaged in the family as well. However, these effects are countered by an increase in divorce rates and an increase in the number of unmarried fathers. The family is far more psychologically central to men than work, as is the case for women. Fathers tend to carry their emotions home with them from work, whereas mothers keep their family experiences insulated from the workplace. There also still exist gross gender differences in the nature of behavioral interaction with children. However, despite changing roles, companies have not caught up in their sympathy for their male employees' work-family problems, so social change is still lagging.
Showing posts with label Developmental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Developmental. Show all posts
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Child care quality matters
Love et al. (August 2003). Child care quality matters: how conclusions may vary with context. Child Development, 74, 4, 1021-1033.
A report from the NICHD concluded that more time spent in a variety of nonmaternal care arrangements leads to more externalizing behavior problems, regardless of child care quality. Authors were skeptical and tested the generalizability of these findings with 3 other studies. These new findings suggest that quality of child care is an important factor influencing children's development, and that quality may be an important moderator of the amount of time in care.
A report from the NICHD concluded that more time spent in a variety of nonmaternal care arrangements leads to more externalizing behavior problems, regardless of child care quality. Authors were skeptical and tested the generalizability of these findings with 3 other studies. These new findings suggest that quality of child care is an important factor influencing children's development, and that quality may be an important moderator of the amount of time in care.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Cultural variation in infant's sleeping arrangements
Morelli, G.A., Rogoff, B., Oppenheim, D., & Goldsmith, D. (1992). Cultural variation in infant's sleeping arrangements: Questions of Independence. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 4, 604-613.
Cultural practices differentiate infant sleep arrangements. In the middle-class US population, a common goal is to have infants sleep in their own rooms as soon as possible, consonant with the culture's importance on independence. In the Mayan population, it is not uncommon for children to sleep with their parents or other siblings well on into childhood, reflecting their culture's value on interpersonal relations. Changes are not prescribed by the authors; instead, broader cultural perspective is offered for American readers.
Cultural practices differentiate infant sleep arrangements. In the middle-class US population, a common goal is to have infants sleep in their own rooms as soon as possible, consonant with the culture's importance on independence. In the Mayan population, it is not uncommon for children to sleep with their parents or other siblings well on into childhood, reflecting their culture's value on interpersonal relations. Changes are not prescribed by the authors; instead, broader cultural perspective is offered for American readers.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Love in Infant Monkeys
Harlow, H.F. (June 1959). "Love in Infant Monkeys", Scientific American.
Harlow used baby rhesus monkeys to yield insights into the origin of the infant's love for its mother and concluded that bodily contact comfort is a decisive variable in this relationship. For example, newborn monkeys preferred a surrogate "cloth" mother to a "wire" mother, and sought out the cloth mother in times of emotional stress. Other variables were also explored. A mother's rocking motion appeared to enhance affection, but less so than simple contact. Heat of the mother did not appear to be an important variable. Other visual, auditory, and olfactory stimulation may also play a role. Additionally, a critical period to attachment formation seems to be evident.
Harlow used baby rhesus monkeys to yield insights into the origin of the infant's love for its mother and concluded that bodily contact comfort is a decisive variable in this relationship. For example, newborn monkeys preferred a surrogate "cloth" mother to a "wire" mother, and sought out the cloth mother in times of emotional stress. Other variables were also explored. A mother's rocking motion appeared to enhance affection, but less so than simple contact. Heat of the mother did not appear to be an important variable. Other visual, auditory, and olfactory stimulation may also play a role. Additionally, a critical period to attachment formation seems to be evident.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Visual Cliff
Gibson, E.J. & Walk, R.D. (April 1960). The "Visual Cliff". Scientific American.
To investigate depth perception in human and animal species, these authors created the "visual cliff" which allowed them to experimentally adjust the optical and tactical stimuli associated with a simulated cliff while protecting the subjects from injury. They discovered that all species can perceive and avoid a sharp drop by the time they take up independent locomotion, be it at Day 1 in chicks, 4 weeks in rats, or 6 months in humans. Most rely on visual cues for depth perception. The rat, however, relies predominantly on tactual cues (being nocturnal) but will fall back on sound vision when needed. Next, the experimenters wanted to find out which visual cues played the decisive role in depth perception. Using dark-reared animals, they concluded motion parallax is an innate cue for depth discrimination, whereas responses to differential pattern-density may be learned later.
(I, Doug G, am the author of this article, The Visual Cliff, and I release its content under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and later.)
To investigate depth perception in human and animal species, these authors created the "visual cliff" which allowed them to experimentally adjust the optical and tactical stimuli associated with a simulated cliff while protecting the subjects from injury. They discovered that all species can perceive and avoid a sharp drop by the time they take up independent locomotion, be it at Day 1 in chicks, 4 weeks in rats, or 6 months in humans. Most rely on visual cues for depth perception. The rat, however, relies predominantly on tactual cues (being nocturnal) but will fall back on sound vision when needed. Next, the experimenters wanted to find out which visual cues played the decisive role in depth perception. Using dark-reared animals, they concluded motion parallax is an innate cue for depth discrimination, whereas responses to differential pattern-density may be learned later.
(I, Doug G, am the author of this article, The Visual Cliff, and I release its content under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and later.)
The Early Origins of Autism
Rodier, P.M. (February 2000). The Early Origins of Autism. Scientific American.
Miller and Stromland made a surprising observation that 5% of thalidomide victims had autism, a rate about 30 times higher than the rate among the general population. This suggested that autism originates in the early weeks of pregnancy when the nervous system is just beginning to develop. Examining these victims' specific malformations indicated that their development had been impacted about 20-24 days into gestation, before many pregnant women even know they are pregnant. This was way earlier than investigators would have guessed, since very few neurons are even formed by the 4th week. However, most are the motor nerves of the cranial nerves in the brain stem. And indeed, many subjects with autism exhibit abnormalities of eye movement and lack of facial expression, consistent with this observation.
However, it is more likely that these early brain injuries affect more than just the function of the cranial nerve, and may interfere with proper development or wiring of other brain regions in turn. People with autism consistently show a reduction in the number of neurons in the cerebellum of the brainstem, a structure typically thought to involved in fine motor control but also seen activated during certain tasks requiring high-level cognitive processing. Some people with autism also display marked decreases in the facial nucleus (controls muscles of facial expression) and superior olive (a relay station for auditory information). Interestingly, "knock-out" mice engineered to lack the expression of the gene known as Hoxa1 (active when brainstem neurons are forming), show all of these symptoms. While variant alleles of Hoxa1 have been identified, these are only one of many genes involved in the spectrum of autism disorder. Other genes must be found which also increase the risk (or decrease the risk) of developing the disorder.
Miller and Stromland made a surprising observation that 5% of thalidomide victims had autism, a rate about 30 times higher than the rate among the general population. This suggested that autism originates in the early weeks of pregnancy when the nervous system is just beginning to develop. Examining these victims' specific malformations indicated that their development had been impacted about 20-24 days into gestation, before many pregnant women even know they are pregnant. This was way earlier than investigators would have guessed, since very few neurons are even formed by the 4th week. However, most are the motor nerves of the cranial nerves in the brain stem. And indeed, many subjects with autism exhibit abnormalities of eye movement and lack of facial expression, consistent with this observation.
However, it is more likely that these early brain injuries affect more than just the function of the cranial nerve, and may interfere with proper development or wiring of other brain regions in turn. People with autism consistently show a reduction in the number of neurons in the cerebellum of the brainstem, a structure typically thought to involved in fine motor control but also seen activated during certain tasks requiring high-level cognitive processing. Some people with autism also display marked decreases in the facial nucleus (controls muscles of facial expression) and superior olive (a relay station for auditory information). Interestingly, "knock-out" mice engineered to lack the expression of the gene known as Hoxa1 (active when brainstem neurons are forming), show all of these symptoms. While variant alleles of Hoxa1 have been identified, these are only one of many genes involved in the spectrum of autism disorder. Other genes must be found which also increase the risk (or decrease the risk) of developing the disorder.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Coping with stress in different phases of romantic development
Nieder, T. & Seiffge-Krenke, I. (2001). Coping with stress in different phases of romantic development. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 297-311.
This study followed adolescents longitudinally between ages 14 and 17, annually measuring their quality of relationships, their stress levels, and their coping styles. The results taken together provide support for a developmental sequence in romantic development. The percent of participants in a relationship increased over this time period, and the durations of these relationships increased with time. With this came increases in depth -- intimacy, affection, and extent of sexual activity. Romantic stress was highest in earlier years stemming from diverse sources, later decreasing and stabilizing with age. And active coping with romantic stress was lowest initially and significantly increased at 15, remaining high. As romantic relationships develop, stress is more and more related to conflicts between the romantic partners; yet such conflicts are increasingly resolved by dyadic communication as a coping strategy. Surprisingly, the development of a more active coping style over time was not associated with the decrease in amount of romantic stress. Instead, intimacy and affection is consistently associated with reduced stress, suggesting that as the relationship matures over time romantic stress decreases.
This study followed adolescents longitudinally between ages 14 and 17, annually measuring their quality of relationships, their stress levels, and their coping styles. The results taken together provide support for a developmental sequence in romantic development. The percent of participants in a relationship increased over this time period, and the durations of these relationships increased with time. With this came increases in depth -- intimacy, affection, and extent of sexual activity. Romantic stress was highest in earlier years stemming from diverse sources, later decreasing and stabilizing with age. And active coping with romantic stress was lowest initially and significantly increased at 15, remaining high. As romantic relationships develop, stress is more and more related to conflicts between the romantic partners; yet such conflicts are increasingly resolved by dyadic communication as a coping strategy. Surprisingly, the development of a more active coping style over time was not associated with the decrease in amount of romantic stress. Instead, intimacy and affection is consistently associated with reduced stress, suggesting that as the relationship matures over time romantic stress decreases.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Empowering Techniques of Play Therapy
Griffith, M. (1997). Empowering Techniques of Play Therapy: A Method for Working with Sexually Abused Children. Journal of Mental Health Counseling. 19 (2), 130-42.
This article, like many others, begins with a brief survey of play therapy theory. It is remarked that play is the natural medium of expression for children and that sexual abuse seems to block many basic developmental needs. Treatment goals are outlined and plotted along a pattern which the process of therapy follows. A case study is provided to articulate these points and exemplify the "five stages" of play therapy. These stages are the establishment of the therapeutic relationship, the later exploratory stage (in which regressive and repetitive behaviors often appear), the limit-setting stage (in which the child tests the boundaries and safety of the therapeutic setting), the growth stage (see below), and the termination stage. Treatment goals in the growth stage involve confronting the "four characteristics of sexual trauma" which are sexual traumatization, stigmatization, betrayal, and powerlessness. Sexual traumatization can lead to confusion between sexuality and affection, confusion about sexual norms, age-inappropriate sexual knowledge, and sexual behavior. It is believed that through the use of empowering techniques of play therapy (expressive/imaginative play and non-direction), the emotional distress of sexual abuse can be relieved and normal psychological development can resume.
This article, like many others, begins with a brief survey of play therapy theory. It is remarked that play is the natural medium of expression for children and that sexual abuse seems to block many basic developmental needs. Treatment goals are outlined and plotted along a pattern which the process of therapy follows. A case study is provided to articulate these points and exemplify the "five stages" of play therapy. These stages are the establishment of the therapeutic relationship, the later exploratory stage (in which regressive and repetitive behaviors often appear), the limit-setting stage (in which the child tests the boundaries and safety of the therapeutic setting), the growth stage (see below), and the termination stage. Treatment goals in the growth stage involve confronting the "four characteristics of sexual trauma" which are sexual traumatization, stigmatization, betrayal, and powerlessness. Sexual traumatization can lead to confusion between sexuality and affection, confusion about sexual norms, age-inappropriate sexual knowledge, and sexual behavior. It is believed that through the use of empowering techniques of play therapy (expressive/imaginative play and non-direction), the emotional distress of sexual abuse can be relieved and normal psychological development can resume.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Subcortical Face Processing
Johnson, M.H. (October 2005). Subcortical Face Processing. Nature Neuroscience Reviews, Volume 6, 766-774.
The most well-known visual pathway uses parvocellular channels from the retina to the LGN and on to the primary visual cortex, where very complicated fine-grained image processing is carried out. However, evidence supports multiple visual pathways, and last I checked, 12 different visual pathways have been identified in the brain so far. This review paper discusses a specific subcortical face-detection system which involves the superior colliculus, pulvinar, and amygdala.
Researchers hypothesize that this pathway is more rapid than cortical routes, relies on rather low-fidelity (low-spatial-frequency) visual information, and can critically modulate cortical processing. One characterization is that this pathway is important for directing emotional attention, providing an emotional flavoring to higher-order visual processing. As this pathway is thought to bias the cortical processing of visual input -- detecting the prescence of faces, orienting us towards them, and activating dependent cortical regions -- this may a particularly important pathway during development when cortical structures (such as the fusiform face area, orbitofrontal cortices, and other cortical regions involved in the social brain network) are still being molded. Atypical processing of socially salient stimuli, seen in such disorders as autism, Turner syndrome, and Williams syndrome, may be associated with a failures in this subcortical pathways, leading to improper development and specialization of dependent cortical circuits.
The most well-known visual pathway uses parvocellular channels from the retina to the LGN and on to the primary visual cortex, where very complicated fine-grained image processing is carried out. However, evidence supports multiple visual pathways, and last I checked, 12 different visual pathways have been identified in the brain so far. This review paper discusses a specific subcortical face-detection system which involves the superior colliculus, pulvinar, and amygdala.
Researchers hypothesize that this pathway is more rapid than cortical routes, relies on rather low-fidelity (low-spatial-frequency) visual information, and can critically modulate cortical processing. One characterization is that this pathway is important for directing emotional attention, providing an emotional flavoring to higher-order visual processing. As this pathway is thought to bias the cortical processing of visual input -- detecting the prescence of faces, orienting us towards them, and activating dependent cortical regions -- this may a particularly important pathway during development when cortical structures (such as the fusiform face area, orbitofrontal cortices, and other cortical regions involved in the social brain network) are still being molded. Atypical processing of socially salient stimuli, seen in such disorders as autism, Turner syndrome, and Williams syndrome, may be associated with a failures in this subcortical pathways, leading to improper development and specialization of dependent cortical circuits.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Autonomic Correlates of ADHD and ODD in Preschool Children
Cromwell, S.E., Beauchaine, T.P., Gatzke-Kopp, L., Sylvers, P., Mead, H., & Chipman-Chacon, J. (2006). Autonomic Correlates of Attention-Defecit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Preschool Children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Volume 115, Number 1, 174-178.
Conduct disorder in adolescence and antisocial behavior in adults has been shown to be marked by autonomic underarousal. This study attempted to see if much younger, at-risk pre-schoolers are autonomically similar to older externalizing children and adults. Firstly, the study found that pre-school children with ADHD and ODD showed attenuated EDR, a measure of sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Decreased SNS activity is thought to be a marker of disinhibition. Secondly, the study found ADHD and ODD pre-schoolers have attenuated SNS-linked cardiac activity, which serves as a marker of reward sensitivity. Children with underactive reward systems may engage in reward-seeking behavior to compensate for a chronically suppressed dopaminergic subsystem. Finally, as compared with controls, the paper showed no substantial differences in these ADHD/ODD groups in RSA, a marker of parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity, and more generally, emotional regulation. The results support the hypothesis that even very young ADHD and ODD children are similar in autonomic biology to older antisocial groups. However, these preschool years may represent a critical period during which noradrenergic, serotonergic, and dopaminergic systems that govern behavioral control are most vulnerable to long-term changes, and importantly, emotional dysregulation, a hallmark of most psychological disorders, may be positively affected through early detection and intervention during this timeframe.
Conduct disorder in adolescence and antisocial behavior in adults has been shown to be marked by autonomic underarousal. This study attempted to see if much younger, at-risk pre-schoolers are autonomically similar to older externalizing children and adults. Firstly, the study found that pre-school children with ADHD and ODD showed attenuated EDR, a measure of sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Decreased SNS activity is thought to be a marker of disinhibition. Secondly, the study found ADHD and ODD pre-schoolers have attenuated SNS-linked cardiac activity, which serves as a marker of reward sensitivity. Children with underactive reward systems may engage in reward-seeking behavior to compensate for a chronically suppressed dopaminergic subsystem. Finally, as compared with controls, the paper showed no substantial differences in these ADHD/ODD groups in RSA, a marker of parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity, and more generally, emotional regulation. The results support the hypothesis that even very young ADHD and ODD children are similar in autonomic biology to older antisocial groups. However, these preschool years may represent a critical period during which noradrenergic, serotonergic, and dopaminergic systems that govern behavioral control are most vulnerable to long-term changes, and importantly, emotional dysregulation, a hallmark of most psychological disorders, may be positively affected through early detection and intervention during this timeframe.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Polyvagal Theory and developmental psychopathology
Beauchaine, T.P., Gatzke-Kopp, L., & Mead, H.K. (2007). Polyvagal Theory and developmental psychopathology: Emotion dysregulation and conduct problems from preschool to adolescence. Biological Psychology, Vol 74, 174-184.
Polyvagal Theory specifies two distinct branches of the vagus, each originating in the medulla. The evolutionarily older branch originates in the dorsal motor nucleus (DMX), while the newer branch originates in the nucleus ambiguus (NA). Both branches provide inhibitory input to the viscera, including the heart. However, each does so in service of distinct evolutionary functions. The DMX branch is tasked with primary survival strategies, enacting defensive behaviors such as fighting, flighting, or freezing. The NA branch, only found in mammals, is used in modulating the fight/flight response towards the execution of social affiliation behaviors (read: emotional regulation).
Functional organization of the autonomic nervous system is thought to be phylogenetically hierarchical, with response strategies to threat dictated by the newest neural structures first, then falling back on older structures when a given response strategy fails. Therefore, polyvagal theory predicts that the NA branch will inhibit acceleratory sympathetic nervous system (SNS) input to the heart when attention and social engagement are adaptive, and withdraw this inhibitory influence when fighting or fleeing are adaptive.
Beauchaine et al argue that an under-responsive central reward system coupled with deficient vagal modulation of emotion leads to sensation-seeking and aggressive behaviors characteristic of externalizing disorders, such as conduct disorder and delinquency, while an over-responsive central inhibition system coupled with deficient vagal modulation of emotion leads to withdrawal behaviors characteristic of internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and panic.
True to form, vagal deficiencies were observed in aggressive children and adolescents, manifested in attenuated respiratory sinus arrhythmia (a measure of vagal activity and thus an index of parasympathetic influence) at baseline and while watching sad and threatening films. Onset of motivational deficiencies appear as early as preschool years (central dopamine systems maturing quite early), but the study reveals that reduced vagal tone and excessive vagal reactivity don't appear until after preschool and into the middle school years. Therefore, socialization of strong emotion regulation skills during these formative years may buffer at-risk children from going on to develop conduct disorders and delinquency.
Polyvagal Theory specifies two distinct branches of the vagus, each originating in the medulla. The evolutionarily older branch originates in the dorsal motor nucleus (DMX), while the newer branch originates in the nucleus ambiguus (NA). Both branches provide inhibitory input to the viscera, including the heart. However, each does so in service of distinct evolutionary functions. The DMX branch is tasked with primary survival strategies, enacting defensive behaviors such as fighting, flighting, or freezing. The NA branch, only found in mammals, is used in modulating the fight/flight response towards the execution of social affiliation behaviors (read: emotional regulation).
Functional organization of the autonomic nervous system is thought to be phylogenetically hierarchical, with response strategies to threat dictated by the newest neural structures first, then falling back on older structures when a given response strategy fails. Therefore, polyvagal theory predicts that the NA branch will inhibit acceleratory sympathetic nervous system (SNS) input to the heart when attention and social engagement are adaptive, and withdraw this inhibitory influence when fighting or fleeing are adaptive.
Beauchaine et al argue that an under-responsive central reward system coupled with deficient vagal modulation of emotion leads to sensation-seeking and aggressive behaviors characteristic of externalizing disorders, such as conduct disorder and delinquency, while an over-responsive central inhibition system coupled with deficient vagal modulation of emotion leads to withdrawal behaviors characteristic of internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and panic.
True to form, vagal deficiencies were observed in aggressive children and adolescents, manifested in attenuated respiratory sinus arrhythmia (a measure of vagal activity and thus an index of parasympathetic influence) at baseline and while watching sad and threatening films. Onset of motivational deficiencies appear as early as preschool years (central dopamine systems maturing quite early), but the study reveals that reduced vagal tone and excessive vagal reactivity don't appear until after preschool and into the middle school years. Therefore, socialization of strong emotion regulation skills during these formative years may buffer at-risk children from going on to develop conduct disorders and delinquency.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Affect Regulation
Schore, A.N. (2002). Dysregulation of the Right Brain: A Fundamental Mechanism of Traumatic Attachment and the Psychopathogenesis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 9-30.
This article is by Allan Schore, a doctor in UCLA’s department of Psychiatry and an impressively well-published author. Schore’s style is to assimilate interdisciplinary literature into unified theories of brain function. This review article does well to illustrate his approach by integrating the latest thinking from attachment theory, affective neuroscience, developmental stress research, and infant psychiatry into a theory on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The article drives home several key points:
(1) The individual response to stressful stimuli may or may not be adaptive.
(2) Current evidence shows that the neural circuitry of the stress system is located in the early developing right brain, the hemisphere that is dominant for affect regulation and inhibitory control.
(3) The development of the right brain is highly experience-dependent, and this experience is primarily mediated by the dyadic attachment relationship that develops between caregiver and infant. Simply put, the mother plays a key role in co-regulating the infant’s postnatally developing nervous system, particularly its stress responses. At a very early age, we thereby rely on and learn strategies from our mothers on self-regulation of emotion. As such, if either the mother or the child is improperly psychobiologically attuned to the body-based states of the self or the other (for whatever reason), this can have detrimental effects on the child’s autoregulatory mechanisms which are still under construction.
(4) This point I will offer more parenthetically. Social stressors are far more detrimental than non-social aversive stimuli. As an example, abuse or neglect would be likely to have a much more deleterious effect on the infant brain than assaults from the nonhuman or inanimate, physical environment. From this, I think one can conclude our brains are more specially honed to social cues than to other types of input.
(5) Due to the shape of the human developmental arc, early experiences in life may be particularly important in shaping an individual’s responsiveness later in life. As developmental effects are almost always cumulative, building on the brick and mortar that has already been laid by previous developmental processes, later growth is “limited by the adequacy of already-formed, underlying networks, and therefore maturation is optimal only if the preceding stages were installed optimally”.
(6) Stress effects are also shown to be cumulative. Whereas acute stress produces short-term and reversible deficits, repeated, prolonged, chronic stress can lead to irreversible or only partially reversible enduring effects.
Add it all up and essentially Shore has conceived of a vignette in which the experiences of the maturing infant can establish inefficient coping mechanisms and individual “dissociation” in times of stress, seen behaviorally even many years later in adulthood. The crux of it… “Optimal attachment experiences allow for the emergence of self-awareness, the ability to sense, attend to, and reflect upon the dynamic changes of one’s subjective self states, but traumatic attachments in childhood lead to self-modulation of painful affect by directing attention away from internal emotional states.” More impressive yet are the 246 citations he makes in an 18-page article!
What is personally interesting to me is the take-away that our development – and in this case, our emotional development – is so unambiguously externally mediated, especially by close parental and familial relationships. (We actually see a reasonable case for the intergenerational transmission of regulation and coping strategies.)
But more importantly, we are essentially “propped” or “wired up” to learn via social mechanisms from people with whom we have intimacy. Said another way, certain parts of the brain may be more receptive to reprogramming by social “interfacing” than by other mechanisms, perhaps even in adulthood. This idea is central to Schore’s thinking on the therapist-patient relationship, which he expounds upon in his three-book-set on Affect Regulation.
This article is by Allan Schore, a doctor in UCLA’s department of Psychiatry and an impressively well-published author. Schore’s style is to assimilate interdisciplinary literature into unified theories of brain function. This review article does well to illustrate his approach by integrating the latest thinking from attachment theory, affective neuroscience, developmental stress research, and infant psychiatry into a theory on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The article drives home several key points:
(1) The individual response to stressful stimuli may or may not be adaptive.
(2) Current evidence shows that the neural circuitry of the stress system is located in the early developing right brain, the hemisphere that is dominant for affect regulation and inhibitory control.
(3) The development of the right brain is highly experience-dependent, and this experience is primarily mediated by the dyadic attachment relationship that develops between caregiver and infant. Simply put, the mother plays a key role in co-regulating the infant’s postnatally developing nervous system, particularly its stress responses. At a very early age, we thereby rely on and learn strategies from our mothers on self-regulation of emotion. As such, if either the mother or the child is improperly psychobiologically attuned to the body-based states of the self or the other (for whatever reason), this can have detrimental effects on the child’s autoregulatory mechanisms which are still under construction.
(4) This point I will offer more parenthetically. Social stressors are far more detrimental than non-social aversive stimuli. As an example, abuse or neglect would be likely to have a much more deleterious effect on the infant brain than assaults from the nonhuman or inanimate, physical environment. From this, I think one can conclude our brains are more specially honed to social cues than to other types of input.
(5) Due to the shape of the human developmental arc, early experiences in life may be particularly important in shaping an individual’s responsiveness later in life. As developmental effects are almost always cumulative, building on the brick and mortar that has already been laid by previous developmental processes, later growth is “limited by the adequacy of already-formed, underlying networks, and therefore maturation is optimal only if the preceding stages were installed optimally”.
(6) Stress effects are also shown to be cumulative. Whereas acute stress produces short-term and reversible deficits, repeated, prolonged, chronic stress can lead to irreversible or only partially reversible enduring effects.
Add it all up and essentially Shore has conceived of a vignette in which the experiences of the maturing infant can establish inefficient coping mechanisms and individual “dissociation” in times of stress, seen behaviorally even many years later in adulthood. The crux of it… “Optimal attachment experiences allow for the emergence of self-awareness, the ability to sense, attend to, and reflect upon the dynamic changes of one’s subjective self states, but traumatic attachments in childhood lead to self-modulation of painful affect by directing attention away from internal emotional states.” More impressive yet are the 246 citations he makes in an 18-page article!
What is personally interesting to me is the take-away that our development – and in this case, our emotional development – is so unambiguously externally mediated, especially by close parental and familial relationships. (We actually see a reasonable case for the intergenerational transmission of regulation and coping strategies.)
But more importantly, we are essentially “propped” or “wired up” to learn via social mechanisms from people with whom we have intimacy. Said another way, certain parts of the brain may be more receptive to reprogramming by social “interfacing” than by other mechanisms, perhaps even in adulthood. This idea is central to Schore’s thinking on the therapist-patient relationship, which he expounds upon in his three-book-set on Affect Regulation.
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