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Altered cognitive functioning in pregnant women: a shift towards primary process thinking
1Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia.
Psychoanalytically orientated writers have independently described an alteration in psychological functioning, which occurs in many pregnant women, and is probably best described as a shift towards a primary process mode of thinking. This literature is reviewed and an illustrative case history provided. Unlike affective changes during pregnancy, alterations in cognitive style have received little attention despite their significant diagnostic and psychotherapeutic implications. The phenomenon invites collaboration between the biological and psychoanalytic orientations within psychiatry further to investigate it.
Psychoanalytically orientated writers have independently described an alteration in psychological functioning, which occurs in many pregnant women, and is probably best described as a shift towards a primary process mode of thinking. This literature is reviewed and an illustrative case history provided. Unlike affective changes during pregnancy, alterations in cognitive style have received little attention despite their significant diagnostic and psychotherapeutic implications. The phenomenon invites collaboration between the biological and psychoanalytic orientations within psychiatry further to investigate it.