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Women who deliver vaginally may be more responsive to their newborns in the early postpartum period than those who deliver via cesarean section, new research suggests.1
This has been speculated about for a long time, but new research shows that it is the case. I think it only makes sense. As humans, I think we are automatically more connected with others with whom we have suffered together. But, I think the other point is that this method is more natural (as God intended perhaps). I realize that there are many situations where this is not an option, but I also know that over the years, the decision of vaginal versus cesarean birth has been a matter of convenience. I don’t necessarily mean the woman either. I’ve heard stories about a doctor having to come in on a holiday to deliver a baby, and in order to get it over as soon as possible, opted for cesarean. Or worse, induced the birth and utilized forceps for the most rapid delivery possible. Doctors like their holiday times as much as anyone.
The research also found:
“We found a significant difference in activity in certain cortical and subcortical areas of the brain in this group of mothers who delivered vaginally compared with those who delivered by cesarean section. Broadly speaking, the cortical brain regions are believed to be important for regulating emotions and empathy,” principal investigator James Swain, MD, PhD, FRCPS, told Medscape Psychiatry.
This research is part of a longer term study examining the relationship between bonding at delivery method. The researchers reported that cesarean deliveries have increased from 4.5% in 1965 to 29.1% in 2006. Based on my observations, people who were born via cesarean section are more reactive to sudden changes, scared of surprises, and have more difficulty with life transitions.
Believe it or not, we all have self-defeating expectations at times. What do I mean by this?
“I wish I could meet someone to date…”
“What have you done to try to meet somebody?”
“Well nothing. Nobody would want to date me anyway.”
“Hmmm…”
A self-defeating expectation is different from outright self-sabotage. With self-sabotage, a person approaches a goal only to shoot themselves in the foot by something they do. For example, a person might drop out of college with only a class or two left to complete before achieving a degree. Secretly, they may fear that they will fail in their chosen career path, so it’s short-circuited before it even has a chance to start.
Most often with both patterns, there is an element of anxiety that is often subtly concealed. There can sometimes be a deep-seated belief, “Whatever I do, I am doomed to fail.” This often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A person brings about that which they fear.
Now, believe it or not, sometimes a self-defeating pattern brings about things that are more positive in a person’s life. I remember one lady whose grandmother wanted her to become a nurse. She had a very close relationship with her grandmother. One day, her grandmother was complaining about a pain in her leg. Her grandmother remarked, “Oh, I probably just pulled a muscle.” And she responded, “Yeah, probably so.” Two days later, the grandmother was dead because a blood clot in her leg dislodged and ended up in her heart. This woman felt tremendously guilty—that she had caused her grandmother’s death by not suggesting that she see a doctor. She felt she had to fulfill her grandmother’s dreams for her in becoming a nurse. But she struggled in college. She became more depressed. She kept flunking certain classes. It was not because she lacked intelligence—I tested her IQ level and she should have been able to get all A’s or at least A’s and B’s in every class she took. What we discovered was that she didn’t really want to be a nurse. Once she was able to resolve her feelings of guilt about her grandmother’s death, she was able to see that her grandmother would have wanted her to choose a profession that she wanted to choose. She switched majors and started getting the A’s and B’s that I knew she was capable of.
Sometimes the patterns of self-defeat run a little deeper and keep repeating over and over. Most often, this has to do with a pattern of experiences in childhood that leads the person to have deep doubts about the competence or effectiveness. These patterns take longer to resolve, because the self-defeating beliefs are very strong and resist change. Sometimes, these patterns take several years to resolve. There may be numerous subtle anxieties that keep a person in a repeating pattern of self-defeat. But, if you are truly motivated to overcome these patterns and have a shrink that you connect with, you can overcome these patterns with a lot of hard work. Unfortunately, there is no medication that will help you do this, and there is no quick fix. It is difficult to resolve these patterns outside of a psychotherapeutic relationship, because everyone has their blinders.
Race horses are fitted with blinders. The blinders restrict their field of vision to basically straight ahead of them. This is so they do not become frightened by other things that are going on around them. People have “mental blinders,” defenses that keep them from recognizing those things that frighten them. Psychotherapy can help people remove these blinders and confront their fears and anxieties.
What do I mean by that? The ‘Nonverbal Level.’ What I mean is traumatic experiences that occur before the development of language, or around the time when language is just developing. People who experience these early traumas, often times medical experiences, tend to develop a wide range of difficulties. Most notably, difficulty with self-expression.
I’ve talked a little about early traumatic experiences before. In some ways a person’s emotional development becomes “fixed” or “fixated” at the age at which the trauma occurred. In may other ways they may fully develop (intellectually, physically, etc…).
I met a fellow professional at a conference a few years ago who shared that she had developed an intense aversion to all kinds of fruits and vegetables after an extrended hospital stay at the age of 2. There was no conscious memory of this experience. But her mother told her that she loved fruit and vegetables before going into the hospital, and after being in the hospital would never touch them again. Now, when I met her, she was 40 years old! She had never eaten any fruit or vegetables since that time. And could not do so. She would immediately gag.
She told me a little about her early medical experiences that she learned from her parents. I made a slightly unprofessional comment, “I bet you are extremely ‘gaggy.’” In other words, she has a hypersensitive gag reflex. She said, “Yes, I always have been. I can’t eat any fruit or vegetables without gagging. It’s the texture.” Now, this was related to the fact of being in the hospital for many months, and having tubes down her throat at this very early age.
Now, many people who have very early traumas (traumatic births, early medical traumas in the first couple years of life, etc…) have extreme difficulty in expressing themselves. It may be just talking at all that’s a problem. It may be specific to emotional expression. Regardless, there is almost always a problem in this area.
So, if you have a child who has to be in the hospital at a very young age, the best I can tell you is be there for them as much as you possibly can. Provide a great deal of reassurance and physical comfort (hugs, kisses, touch, etc…). Talk to them. Be soothing. You cannot completely erase the traumatic nature of the experience, but you will reduce it draumatically.
Everyone doubts themselves from time to time. And at major life transitions, doubt is an extremely common thing. When a child goes from junior high to high school, they doubt themselves. When a high school student transitions to college, they doubt themselves. When a child attends a new school, they doubt themselves. When you get a new job, you doubt yourself.
But for some people, they have deeply rooted feelings of defectiveness. And it’s not technically correct that they “feel” defective, but rather that they think they are defective and that results in a number of different emotions (sadness, shame, anxiety, anger). For some people, their whole way of seeing what happens in the world is organized around their beliefs that they are defective. Jung developed the notion of a ‘complex’ that was later also used by Freud. More recently, the notion of a ‘schema’ has arisen from cognitive therapy (or Schema Focused Cognitive Therapy), which has many similar characteristics to a complex.
A complex is described as “In Jung’s use of the term, a complex is literally a grouping of parts around some central emotional theme. For example, if you had a leg amputated as a child, you might develop a complex about it. Your complex might involve all the thoughts and emotions built up over a lifetime about the absent leg and the impact it might have had on people’s reactions to you, your opportunities in life, or anything else relating to the amputated leg. Unlike Freud, Jung did not assume most of these complexes were sexual in nature. A complex was due to some twist or turn in life that had a big emotional impact on a person.” (1)
A schema is described as “a mental structure that represents some aspect of the world. This learning theory views organized knowledge as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures which represent one’s understanding of the world. Schema theory was developed by R. C. Anderson, a respected educational psychologist.” (2)
In the Bible, it explains that,
“9(H) That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us.” (3)
Psychologists often lose this perspective on things. But the fact of the matter is, most often, they are just using different words to describe things that have been observed by others. They feel important for their ‘ground breaking’ discoveries, but all they have really done is re-label concepts that have been explored and understood by others. The Last Psychiatrist would call this narcissism.
There are a number of ways that a person may develop a defectiveness complex. Problems with motor skills, problems learning how to walk, problems with a sensory system (such as vision or hearing), learning disabilities, and other problems that may occur during childhood. Sometimes there is an early severe fever that results in motor or learning problems. Sometimes there is an acute physical problem. Regardless, it is something that must occur early in life. What tends to happen is that all subsequent things that happen are filtered through this ‘complex’ or ‘schema’ and are seen by the person as supporting the fact that they are defective.
I remember one woman who developed Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever as a child. As a result, she was uncoordinated and clumsy. So, she was constantly reminded of the fact of her ‘defectiveness’ by bumbling clumsiness. Subsequently, all things that happened in her life were filtered through this belief and frame of reference. She never had the confidence to ask for a raise, or seek a job that was consisent with her true abilities. She never had any luck in relationships because she expected others to discover that she was defective, and drove men away because of this. All of these things were seen as just more evidence for her defectiveness. Now, the person doesn’t usually have a conscious awareness of how this developed. But unconsciously, it influences how they interpret things in their lives, what they remember from the past (their personal failures), and their expectations for the future (continued failure, rejection, etc…).
These difficulties often take several years of treatment in order to resolve. The ‘complex’ or the ‘schema’ is well defended within the individual and extremely difficult to challenge. The individual often develops information supporting their notion that they are defective despite any evidence to the contrary. The explanation that this is a ‘complex’ or ‘schema’ often helps the indvidual come to the realization that their view is distorted based on beliefs that were developed through early life experiences. Once they develop this insight, they can begin to understand and change the ‘complex’ or ‘schema’ that has been so self-limiting in their lives.
Interestingly, the notion of a ‘complex’ was developed by Carl Jung (a psychoanalyst), and the notion of schema-focused cogntive therapy has been expounded by Jeffrey Young 
Although I’m not keen on some of Jung’s notions (such as the collective unconscious and archetypes), I’m not one to ‘throw the baby out with the bath water.’ I have to largely agree with the following statement from Jung, “The patient who comes to us has a story that is not told, and which as a rule no one knows of. To my mind, therapy only really begins after the investigation of that wholly personal story. It is the patient’s secret, the rock against which he is shattered. If I know his secret story, I have a key to treatment.” (4) I find this to be exactly the case in treatment with my patients. My mentor likes to quote the old proverb:
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”
In treatment, I try to find the nail. Once the nail is found, the battle is won. It’s not necessarily won right at the point that the nail is found, because we have riding, battle, and defense of the kingdom left, but it is the pivotal point around which the treatment revolves. There are many reason’s which people come to feel defective, and the discovery of this reason is the nail which leads to the ultimate success of treatment. And, I think the notion of war is appropriate to psychotherapy. It’s a war against the emotional difficulties of the patient, and often entails numerous battles. Sometimes, the enemy is more easily vanquished, and other times, the battles are ongoing and intense. So, God be with you, in your own battles.
Remember the verse from the Bible, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (5) You may well need this strength to win your battle. But, I believe in you and the power of God, as I believe in my patients. Fight the good fight, and keep working hard to get to a better place in your life.
(1). http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch13_therapies/jungian_therapy.html
(2). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_%28psychology%29
(3). Ecclesiates 1:9-10.
(4). Jaffe and Jung
(5). Philippians 4:13
Nearly all psychologists will admit that people have psychological defense mechanisms. However, the concept of repressed memories is much more controversial….probably with good reason. You see, memory is not static…meaning it is not like a movie that is played back. It runs through the filter of the mind, emotions, and life experiences. It is susceptible to suggestion. Such as, “You remember him touching you, don’t you.” Patient responds “maybe….yes I think I do…” And comes to believe that this imagined event really happened.
Now, apart from the fact that memory is subject to suggestion, people REALLY DO have the capacity to repress memories. I can’t tell you the precise circumstances that are needed, it is an interaction of individual personality characteristics and the situation. Many people worry that, “Maybe something happened to me that I don’t remember.” I tell them, “Maybe, but don’t worry about it. If it is important that you remember, you will. If not, then you won’t. Trust your unconscious mind.”
I’ve seen it unfold in my office. Piece, by piece, the memory comes back as the emotion attached with each level of repression is released. Usually this is when there is a general knowledge of a ‘fact’ that something happened, but no memory for any specific details. As the emotion is released at each level, there is a deepening of experience and recall of more details. This unfolds in the safest way as dictated, determined, and seen as needed by the unconscious mind. I don’t press or suggest things to these patients…I’m just there to listen, empathize, and support. It unfolds on its own, and occurs only if needed to help the patient overcome their difficulties.
Now there have been times when repressed memories from the “infantile” stage of development come out in symbolic form in a dream. I remember one patient who dreamed of “squeezing” down a well and was attacked by 3 alligators. I told her, “They used forceps during your delivery at birth.” She had no conscious knowledge, or memory of this, as nobody does. She had never been told anything about this by her mother. However, she checked with her mother, and sure enough, it had occurred.
I don’t worry about, or focus on recovering repressed memories in treatment. I follow the patient’s needs. If it is needed, it will occur…I trust the unconscious mind of the patient. You see, God has created us with incredibly self protective minds…that also have self-corrective properties that can be utilized. I trust that completely.
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