WEBVTT

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Last week, we examined
the way in which aspects

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of the mother's mind, such as
her capacity for reflective

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functioning, influenced
her parenting behaviours,

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and as a result, the
infant's attachment security.

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We discovered that the parents'
reflective functioning is

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strongly associated with
their parenting behaviours

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and thereby, a significant
factor in influencing

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the baby's attachment status
and therefore their internal

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working models.

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Recent research has
also begun to identify

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the importance of the mother's
cognitive representations

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during pregnancy.

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The bodily changes
that occur in pregnancy

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and the physical movements
of the unborn baby

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that are experienced from
around the second trimester

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of pregnancy are
also accompanied

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by significant
psychological transformation

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and reorganisation.

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This transformation
and reorganisation

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is thought to focus specifically
on the woman's identity

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as a mother, a reworking
of her relationship

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with her own mother
and the developing

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relationship with the baby.

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The latter is
normally characterised

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by both feelings of
closeness to the baby,

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but also a recognition of the
baby as a separate person.

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These cognitive and emotional
maps of thoughts and feelings

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are known as mental
representations

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and the mother's
mental representations

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of her unborn baby, herself as a
mother-to-be and the pregnancy,

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can be assessed using a
procedure called the working

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model of the child interview.

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This interview identifies
whether women are balanced,

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disengaged or distorted.

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Women who are described
as balanced, for example,

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can provide a rich and
detailed description

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of their experiences
with their pregnancies

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and these narratives are on
the whole highly coherent.

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These pregnant
women talk fluidly,

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not only about their positive
thoughts and feelings

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about their unborn
baby, but also

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about their negative feelings.

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Women who are
disengaged, however,

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appear to be uninterested
in the unborn baby

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or their relationship
with him or her.

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They also show little interest
in what their baby's future

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traits and behaviours
might be like,

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or in themselves as mothers.

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Women described
as distorted tend

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to express intrusive
or tangential thoughts

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about their own
experiences as children,

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and these women also often
view their unborn baby

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primarily as an extension of
themselves or their partner.

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One study showed
that 51% of women

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had balanced representations,
with 30% being

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disengaged and 19% having
distorted representations

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in pregnancy.

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79% of the women with balanced
representations in pregnancy

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were also balanced
post-nataly, and 62%

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of women with non-balanced
representations in pregnancy

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still had them post-nataly.

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This means the some women
change from being unbalanced

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to balanced and vice versa.

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However, this study also
showed that the women who

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are unbalanced in
pregnancy and then became

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balanced post-nataly, were
less sensitive, more disengaged

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and less warm in
their interaction

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than women who were
balanced at both times.

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There are now many
studies showing

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that such representations
in pregnancy

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are important in terms
of later care-giving

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and also in terms of the
infant's attachment security.

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Don't forget to tell us what
you think about the material

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this week in the discussions.

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