Is pre-natal psychology a load of nonsense? Willam Emerson speaks out

In celebration of 25 years of APPAH, the Association for Pre and Perinatal Psychology and health, the current president, William Emerson, wrote the story of how the loss of his twin sister 12 hours after birth compelled him to study the physical and psychological aspects of pregnancy in great detail, and to work hard over many years to help babies to enter this world with the minimum of trauma.

Many womb twin survivors are attracted towards pregnancy and birth as an area of study, but in a man that seems counter intuitive, as one would imagine that such subjects would be of more interest to a woman. However that little dose of oestrogen, that he would have received before birth, would have  helped him to feel comfortable in an organisation dominated by women.

Another day, another article....

Today saw the publication of the Journal of the Association for The Association for Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology and Health.  Mainly concerned with childbirth issues, this organisation discusses the  long term effects on the adult of a variety of both prebirth and perinatal events.  The Journal is a particular delight to me, because so far they have published two articles by me - one on the possible prebirth origins of morbid obesity and the second out today, about the stress on a mother who has lost a twin in pregnancy and how her loss is usually unacknowledged: