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Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
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Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain by Sue Gerhardt
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Author of ‘Why Love Matters’ and ‘The Selfish Society’
SUMMARY
Why babyhood rather than childhood?
The case that I want to make is that babyhood is much more important to our lives than many people realise. A lot of the behaviour that worries us in later childhood, such as aggression, hyperactivity, obesity, depression and poor school performance, has already been shaped by children’s experiences in babyhood. For those of you who have not studied the scientific literature, this might seem a bit
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But first let me make the case for the importance of infancy.
“Research now shows that many challenges in adult society – mental health problems,obesity/stunting, heart disease, criminality, competence in literacy and numeracy - have their roots in early childhood.” (World Health Organisation)
The over-riding importance of early conditions
The strange fact is that very often the early conditions of our lives have a profound impact on the whole of our development. Let me start by describing how this works with regard to the body and physical health, which might seem more obvious, because we can see that nutrition affects the body. The body grows or it does not. It develops healthy organs or it
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
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does not. And actually, the early development of the body’s organs and other systems are affected by the nutrition available at
The influences of underlying health conditions can result in the need for specific nutrients as well as influencing what people are or aren’t able to eat.
They also found that childhood sexual abuse was the most common trauma that lead to PTSD symptoms. These findings are in line with previous research on this topic or similar topics to this one. Although childhood sexual assault was the common, the authors noted that being stalked and being threatened produces the most severe symptoms of PTSD in the regression equation. Another finding that was consistent with previous research is that sudden death of a loved one was a traumatic even experienced more frequently by the participants. Even though this was a very diverse group in terms of ethnicity, it still found that men experienced robbery and stranger assault more frequently than women. These findings are also consistent with other research. The authors expressed that because the diagnoses were not based on research-based diagnoses but from clinical charts it may not be as reliable. They also noted that there may be some groups that were not represented in the study, such as those living with SMI in the inner
Nutrition is the science of our intake and utilization of food. Proper nutrition can help prevent or lessen the instances of disease. Improper nutrition can lead to a weakened immune system and even disease. In fact, A poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle are known to be risk factors for life-threatening chronic diseases such as cardiovascular (heart) disease, hypertension, diabetes,
Nutrition is defined “as the science that links foods to health and disease. “ Nutrition is also called nourishment that provides food for support of life. Nutrition involves the process of humans ingesting, digesting, absorbing, and excreting food substances.Food provides energy in the form of calories needed to maintain all body cells. Nutrients are the substances obtained from food that are an important factor to promote growth & maintain a healthy body through an individuals’ life.
Good nutrition is a critical part of preventing obesity and chronic disease. What people eat is one of the most important determinants of whether they are overweight or obese.
Care in pregnancy: This is the most important factor that needs to be considered during child development, because development of children can be affected by what happens during the pregnancy .For example exposure to alcohol, nicotine and drugs can have long term effects on later health and cognitive development.
This paper has been donated as a guide. Please do not copy my work. Please cite your sources including my paper if you use it. Thank you.
Bowlby states that affectionate bonding between caregivers and infants is crucial for a health development (1973). Based on the attachment patterns they had at early childhood with primary caregivers, children develop internal working models about self and about others. These internal working models which they form help them interpret and predict experiences in adult relationships.
Psychological factors can be related to many different problems, one problem that had personally affected me was the grades I got my freshman year of college. I started my college career struggling a little bit and often wondered how I could raise my grades and improve my GPA until I was satisfied with the grades I would get. Coming to college I was finally on my own with no one to wake me up, make me do homework, or go to class. These all led to my GPA not being exactly where I wanted it to be along with a number of psychological factors that have all been introduced throughout lecture and the readings. The four different chapters I can relate this problem most too would have to be those on stress, personality,
human being is made at conception. Most people argue that the baby dies from this, causing me
According to the World Health Organization, “Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. Good nutrition – an adequate, well balanced diet combined with regular physical activity – is a cornerstone of good health. Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development, and reduced productivity. (World Health Organization, 2012) ”
Clinical psychology is just one of the many subfields that psychology has to offer. Those who choose to enter clinical psychology aim to help people with addiction, emotional stress, mental illness, or any other type of mental problems. Knowing what a clinical psychologist does in their practice is important in understanding their profession. A clinical psychologist's education is the most prominent part of their career; without it, they cannot be considered a psychologist. The process and requirements of employment for psychologists are scattered, varying from state to state, as well as their salary and where they may be employed. The future and growth of clinical psychology can only be
Proper nutrition is one of the most essential elements to being healthy and living a long life. People deal with food every day, and food has been a part of life since the beginning of civilization. What we eat becomes our diet, and our diet plays a major role in deciding how healthy we are and how well our body functions. Without proper diet, our body cannot carry out the functions it needs to perform. Most people have some common knowledge on what is good and what is bad for the human body to consume. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains are some common items people think of when they think of healthy foods. However, it is not enough just to know what foods are good for your body, it is also important to understand why certain foods are
‘’Nutrition is the process of taking in nutrients from the foods you eat.’’ (Page 1, http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-nutrition.html)
Abnormal and clinical psychology are two branches in the field of psychological studies. In simple words, abnormal psychology can be defined as the study of people who engage in unusual behavior and emotional thoughts. These actions and thoughts are considered abnormal compared to those of other members of society, and they significantly interfere with their functioning in life. Clinical psychology goes hand in hand with abnormal psychology because it is the study that deals with the assessment and treatment of those abnormal actions. Learning about these branches of psychology can help us understand and predict behaviors of people who that are affected by these disorders. It is also essential to advance our knowledge to help assess the people who suffer these illnesses to lead a life of better quality. In this paper, a case study that entails a brief vignette of a 35 year old paralegal named Greg will be analyzed. According to concepts of abnormal and clinical psychology, Greg will be diagnosed with the psychological disorder of obsessive-compulsive disorder (more formally known as OCD) that might have originated in the anal stage of the psychoanalytic theory, for which cognitive behavioral therapy will be used as a possible treatment.