Seeing, Knowing, and Finding Time: Attachment, Trauma, and Resilience in the Perinatal Period (And During a Pandemic)

ABSTRACT

Paying tribute to Anni Bergman requires a clinician to find the way to difficult clinical experiences that challenge one’s identity and demand creativity and humility. Anni was a keen observer of nuance, difference, and connection, especially in the nonverbal. She also sought to integrate evolving knowledge of developmental psychology and clinical practice into her work, through formal measures or technique. In the present day, Anni’s influence embodies a curious, active, integrative stance that helps patients find themselves and helps clinicians stay close to the work through their own learning. This paper explores a case though multiple lenses that include Attachment Theory, psychoanalytic ideas on maternal identity, trauma and resilience, where treatment was sought during the perinatal period. Integrating formal self-report and research measures, specifically the Adult Attachment Interview, into a clinical context helps both therapist and patient define the work and find each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment Theory
• Separation-Individuation theory
• Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs)
• maternal identity
• trauma
• COVID-19
• racism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the International Psychoanalytical Association; Margaret S. Mahler Psychiatric Research Foundation; Katz Institute for Women's Health (KIWH).

Notes on contributors

Inga Blom

Inga Blom, PhD, PMH-C is a clinical psychologist based in New York City. She obtained her PhD from the New School for Social Research, where she was mentored by Anni Bergman and Miriam Steele on follow-up research with the original subjects of Separation-Individuation Theory. For many years, she worked as Anni Bergman’s assistant. Currently, she is a training director and program director of a reproductive mental health program at Lenox Hill Hospital/Northwell Health. She also works in private practice and teaches undergraduate courses.