Les représentations maternelles prénatales

Abstract

BackgroundParental and specifically maternal representations during pregnancy have been shown to be correlated to maternal sensibility during the postpartum, therefore influencing parent–infant interactive patterns and ultimately attachment security. Access to representation is facilitated by specific psychological mechanisms during pregnancy that give easier access to internal psychic processes. This is often called the “gravidic psychic transparency”. The first aim of this research was to study the maternal representations of their future infants through the use of a novel evaluative method. Developmental psychology or psychopathology have generally used semi-directed interviews or questionnaires that limit representational expression. Core representation can be more easily reached through the use of evocation techniques that are utilized in this study, thus allowing free association and open word expression. The second objective of this research was to compare maternal representations of women expecting a girl versus women expecting a boy. MethodEighty-three women participated in the study. Forty percent knew they were expecting a girl, 47% a boy, the rest chose not to know. They were invited during the third trimester of their first pregnancy to spontaneously express five words or expressions associated with the word “baby” and to give them an order of importance. ResultsAmong the 132 different words used by the whole sample, three words constituted the central core of representation: love, happiness, responsibility. Only eight words had a negative value. Maternal evocation of those expecting boys differed by the use of “vitality” as a concept whereas those expecting girls used “fragility” and “responsibility”. PerspectivesIn a control group where we had excluded mothers presenting any psychiatric known or probable pathology (women with an EPDS score above 11 were not included) it is already essential to note that in a given western cultural context any negative representation of the future baby is pushed away. However differences in use of representations for boys and girls already appear before the infant's birth. We discuss the use of maternal spontaneous prenatal representation psychodynamically raising the potentiality of this method in prevention and early detection of postnatal interactive risk.