research on clinical psych
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Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
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Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain by Sue Gerhardt
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Author of ‘Why Love Matters’ and ‘The Selfish Society’
SUMMARY
Why babyhood rather than childhood?
The case that I want to make is that babyhood is much more important to our lives than many people realise. A lot of the behaviour that worries us in later childhood, such as aggression, hyperactivity, obesity, depression and poor school performance, has already been shaped by children’s experiences in babyhood. For those of you who have not studied the scientific literature, this might seem a bit far-fetched. I was rather amazed at just how significant babyhood is, when I first undertook the research for my book 'Why Love Matters '.
Just to take one recent example, the World Health Organisation recently published a report from their Commission on the social determinants of health - which stated that
“Research now shows that many challenges in adult society – mental health problems, obesity/stunting, heart disease, criminality, competence in literacy and numeracy - have their roots in early childhood.” They went on to say that
“Economists now assert on the basis of the available evidence that investment in early childhood is the most powerful investment a country can make, with returns over the life course many times the amount of the original investment.”
Recommendations for Policy Makers and the Members of the European Parliament.
I would love to see all policy makers routinely bringing babies into the picture and taking for granted that what happens to children under 3 is at least as important as anything that happens later.
Recently the World Health Organisation echoed this view. They made the recommendation that: ‘Local, regional and national governments should incorporate the ‘science of early
child
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain
81
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain by Sue Gerhardt
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Author of ‘Why Love Matters’ and ‘The Selfish Society’
SUMMARY
Why babyhood rather than childhood?
The case that I want to make is that babyhood is much more important to our lives than many people realise. A lot of the behaviour that worries us in later childhood, such as aggression, hyperactivity, obesity, depression and poor school performance, has already been shaped by children’s experiences in babyhood. For those of you who have not studied the scientific literature, this might seem a bit far-fetched. I was rather amazed at just how significant babyhood is, when I first undertook the research for my book 'Why Love Matters '.
Just to take one recent example, the World Health Organisation recently published a report from their Commission on the social determinants of health - which stated that
“Research now shows that many challenges in adult society – mental health problems, obesity/stunting, heart disease, criminality, competence in literacy and numeracy - have their roots in early childhood.” They went on to say that
“Economists now assert on the basis of the available evidence that investment in early childhood is the most powerful investment a country can make, with returns over the life course many times the amount of the original investment.”
Recommendations for Policy Makers and the Members of the European Parliament.
I would love to see all policy makers routinely bringing babies into the picture and taking for granted that what happens to children under 3 is at least as important as anything that happens later.
Recently the World Health Organisation echoed this view. They made the recommendation that: ‘Local, regional and national governments should incorporate the ‘science of early
child