Spring 2022

It began with a cup of coffee and conversation during a walk around a non-descript mall in Broomfield, Colorado. I had presented my doctoral dissertation research poster on a course for expectant parents at APPPAH’s 19th International Congress in Berkeley, CA in November 2015—my first experience with the organization—and I wanted to be more involved. I reached out to then-Editor-in-Chief, Jeane Rhodes, PhD, who, after the said coffee, soon brought me on as the new Book Review Editor, a position I held for 1.5 years.

It seems nearly a lifetime since I began working on the JOPPPAH Editorial Team. How quickly six years pass. After next becoming Assistant Editor and later Copy Editor for a combined 1.5 years, I settled in as the Editor-in-Chief for the past three years.

During those six years, I’ve had a plethora of amazing experiences of getting to know APPPAH from the inside-out: presenting at Regional and International Congresses and Monday LIVEs, interacting with our international authors and incredible JOPPPAH and APPPAH team members, reading dozens of books and articles on pre- and perinatal psychology and health while preparing the journal articles and issues for publication, and meeting amazing people from around the world by both coordinating registration at some Congresses and simply attending others. It has been a series of rich experiences that I am immensely grateful for.

In all of this, I’m most grateful for my frequent interchanges and experiences with our hard-working journal team—a team which has grown and evolved over time, and which strives to produce the best publication possible. The journal team consistently seeks out the latest research in the field, bringing perspective and greater international credibility to both our earliest experiences as human beings and our organization. This is both a great honor and sometimes a challenge, and we implore your support in this pursuit of outstanding research and articles in our endeavor to create the highest-quality academic journal imaginable.

Kate Stahl-Kovell, PhD, our current Copy Editor, has also been in training during this issue and will be taking the reins as Editor-in- Chief after this publication. I have no doubt she will do an exceptional job in her new role. I also want to welcome our newest team member, Christiana Rebelle, PhD, who has been training during this issue to move into the Copy Editor position. Along with the support of our founder and current Associate Editor, Thomas Verny, MD, DPsych, our Assistant Editor, Mariana Cerqueira, MD, CPM, our Managing/Formatting Editor, Jess Kimball, our Book Review Editor, Barbara Hotelling, MSN, RN, and our Peer Review Coordinator, Jessica Harrison, the journal team consists of an incredibly solid group of individuals dedicated to a common cause. It has been my sincere pleasure to work with them all, as well as our former Editorial Board members. I can’t wait to see how this team continues to move things forward with the journal.

Here in Colorado, Spring has sprung. And while the past two years have made many of us pandemic-weary, and the world is in its current uncertain state, it still feels as if hope is beginning to burst from the ground.

That being said, we are also still mourning our many losses. The first part of this issue of the journal serves as a tribute to and obituary for Barbara Findeisen, PhD, who passed in October of 2021. Dr. Jeane Rhodes shares excerpts from Dr. Findeisen’s book, Womb Prints (2016/2018), the 2018 version of which Dr. Rhodes edited. Additionally, you will find an obituary for and tribute to Kelduyn Garland, PhD, DD, who passed in January. We are republishing her 1992 JOPPPAH article, (published in what was then called the Pre- and Peri-natal Psychology Journal), Physiological Effects of Neonatal Management, 7(1).

Both Dr. Findeisen and Dr. Garland were pioneers in the prenatal and perinatal psychology and health field and tremendous losses for our organization, wearing many leadership hats at APPPAH and far beyond. Dr. Garland was additionally a localized loss to our journal team as a loyal peer reviewer.

It is exciting to feel our global reach in this issue; all of the following articles are from international contributors. Akira Ikegawa, MD, Yuko Igarashi, and Yuko Tsuchihashi share their article from Japan, Prenatal Memory: How to Accept Love from Our Children. Dr. Ikegawa compares his own experience of using the Prenatal Memory method he designed and implemented in his clinic to standard obstetrical practices in Japan. The authors posit that love between parents and their children is exchanged physically beginning in utero, and that this process can be enhanced by the parents remaining open to receiving love from their child, providing benefits for all.

Our next article, Effectiveness of a Pre-Conception Education Program in India at Improving Fertility Rates, is offered by Gajanan Kelkar, Dr. Avinash Dharmadhikari, and Dr. Amita Dharmadhikari.

Editorial 3

The authors report that infertility in India is a rising concern and that stress is a leading cause. After implementing the Pre-Conception Education (PCE) program with couples between 2016 and 2018, the researchers found that within their heteronormative, cis-gender couple participants where expectant mothers were under stress, fertility rates increased for the couples.

In Discovering Dreamlike Experiencing in the Framework of Bonding Analysis, Ludwig Janus, MD, from Germany, discusses how bonding analysis “allows us to access the reality of a primary layer of experience between parent and child during the prenatal period and makes it available for reflection.” He states that bonding analysis helps expectant parents develop a caring, connected, and empathic relationship with their children that helps provide a nurturing space for the child’s development as they mature.

Ofra Lubetsky, PhD, brings us Uncertainty in Early Life— Implications for the Future, from Israel. Dr. Lubetsky discusses how certainty and uncertainty are complementary and subjective. She shares a case study where a child she worked with experienced personal trauma and uncertainty that began perinatally, and how he and his family were able to make substantial progress back toward connection.

Our last article, Environmental Impacts of the Labor Ward on Bereaved Families, hails from the United Kingdom, from Lauren Blackwell, RRE, MPFT, and Dr. Joanna Heyes. This qualitative study examines the narratives of eight women who experienced a stillbirth on a labor ward within a period of four years. The article investigates the mothers’ perceptions of their experiences, their pain, and the impact of their surroundings.

Barbara C. Decker, HBCE, CLD, contributes a review of Matthew Appleton’s (2020) book, which she terms “an extraordinary working manual” for those in the field: Transitions to Wholeness: Integrating Prenatal, Transpersonal, and Somatic Psychology. In his book, Appleton guides the reader through the layers of the body and psyche, stemming from the heart, and describes how they work together to form the mind. This is a concept he says we have largely forgotten, and which, when integrated, helps build resiliency, connection, and wholeness, and also helps integrate trauma.

We leave you with one final review of Psychological Trauma and The Developing Brain: Neurologically Based Interventions for Troubled Children (2004) by Phyllis T. Stein & Joshua Kendall. JOPPPAH Book Review Editor, Barbara A. Hotelling, MSN, RN, shares that the authors substantiate both how trauma affects the brain and how the brain’s resiliency responds to and handles that trauma. This is an important

4 Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health

book for trauma-informed caregivers in the field, since many gestational parents have experienced trauma that can impact the entire family system.

As always, thank you for your support of APPPAH and our journal. We welcome your comments, which you can post on the journal pages of our website or send via email to the journal editors at journal.editor@birthpsychology.com.

And I personally want to thank you for allowing me the great honor of spearheading JOPPPAH for the past three years. I look forward to connecting with many of you in the future at Congresses and wish you all the very best.

Stephanie Dueger, PhD, LPC JOPPPAH Editor-in-Chief