Stress is a familiar topic in modern life and researchers are discovering its effects are more far-reaching than we thought. We now know that when a mother who experiences ongoing stress during pregnancy, her unborn child’s developing body is being flooded with the same stress hormones from the mother’s body. These hormones influence the way the different structures of the brain develop. This can affect how the child will eventually handle stress later in life.
Effects of Stress on the Brain
If the mother’s life has been relatively trauma-free or she has well-developed stress management skills, the effects on the developing brain will likely be minimal. However, if the mother has a highly dysregulated nervous system and poor stress management skills, the effects will be much more severe.
When a developing brain is flooded with stress hormones, either before or after birth, the area of the brain that registers fear and anger grows larger than usual. In addition, those same hormones result in the area of the brain responsible for planning, anticipating consequences, and scheduling time to different tasks being underdeveloped. However, there is a system that can reduce the magnitude of these effects and that is the system called attachment.
Attachment
Attachment is the name given to the relationship between two individuals, in this case, the baby and mother. As mentioned above, the mother with a well-regulated nervous system reduces the number of hormones to the unborn child’s brain. After the child’s birth, her role is more critical; her nervous system is what regulates her infant’s nervous system since the infant’s system is totally unregulated. The mother essentially ‘trains’ the baby’s nervous system to become synchronized with hers. Mothers with well-regulated nervous systems and good stress management skills help their babies to calm quickly and are attuned quickly to babies’ signals in meeting their needs. This promotes the development of a strong, secure attachment bond which, in turn, contributes to the healthy emotional development of the child.
Self-Regulation
These mothers not only provide stress management early on for their children, but by helping the child synchronize its nervous system with hers (by helping calm ‘big emotions’ like tantrums), she is teaching the child how to calm down from overwhelming feelings. This is how a child learns to eventually control their emotions—what we call self-regulation.
Secure Attachment
Mothers who can self-regulate find it easier to connect with their children, attune to their needs, and develop secure attachment relationships. Securely attached children develop resilience more easily because they have experienced the world as a safe place due to the presence of their attachment figure who has helped buffer some of the more negative events that might have occurred. That figure has shown them how to meet these life events without falling apart and taught them problem-solving strategies to deal with them. Individuals who have been securely attached throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence are better equipped to develop mature, healthy relationships with friends and partners during adulthood and experience more satisfying lives.
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