CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS
A. Critique of the M-FDS as a Scientific Paradigm
1. Introduction and The Old View
Having presented in detail Lake's formulation of the M-FDS in chapters two and four, along with some historical and psychophysiological evidence in chapter three, to what extent can his model be maintained as paradigmatic in the manner previously discussed? Lake's designation of the M-FDS as a "new paradigm"1 in two somewhat overlapping senses corresponds with the two main lines of inquiry addressed by this dissertation, those of chapter two and chapter four.
As a scientific paradigm connoting "a generally accepted system of ideas which defines the legitimate problems and methods of a research field"2 does Lake's M-FDS pass muster? Based on the existing data, do Lake's formulations allow for the MFDS to be "generally accepted as a system of ideas?" In response to these queries and based upon the evidence presented in chapter three, five major questions seem to emerge. The first addresses the issue as to why the ideas contained in Lake's M-FDS have not in the recent past and present been "generally accepted as a system of ideas".
Secondly, how is the "evidence" that Lake based his theory upon to be
evaluated? Specifically, given the problems regarding the fallibility of human memory and the potential suggestibility of clients, how can the data regarding prenatal and primal integration be evaluated with regard to it's veracity?
Thirdly, does the existing evidence reasonably allow for the affirmation of the M-FDS as a paradigm in terms of the fetal period generally, particularly the second and third trimesters. The fourth question relates to Lake's stress upon the paramount importance of the first trimester, or embryonic period, in particular. Lastly, much of Lake's "evidence" is based upon the assumption that the "memories" recalled by his subjects by means of deep-breathing or LSD abreaction are substantially accurate and represent real biographical events that transpired. This assumption is examined in light of the current evidence.
The second manner in which Lake affirmed the M-FDS to be paradigmatic was in a
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1Moss, "Frank Lake's Maternal-Fetal Distress Syndrome and Primal Integration Workshops." 52.
2lbid., 53.
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comparative sense in which the scientific paradigm was paralleled to certain theological considerations. In this sense, "paradigm" was utilized more broadly as "a pattern, something shown side by side with something else, inviting comparison of the correspondences."3 Based upon the evidence presented in chapter four regarding Lake's utilization of the M-FDS as a paradigm of comparison with the theological realm, the major question that arises touches on the M-FDS as a theodicy and the relationship between this theodicy and the "other" great work of the cross, atonement.
Thirdly, Lake's whole project was devoted to an integration of the biblical and theological on the one hand with the psychiatric and psychological on the other. To what extent does he achieve this with the M-FDS, and achieve it legitimately? What are the implications of the convergence of these two lines of inquiry?
Lastly, to what extent does Lake's thinking and the research evidence that presently exists allow, however tentatively, for the discussion of a "prenatal psychology"?
A. Critique of the M-FDS as a Scientific Paradigm
1. The "Old" View
At its very simplest, the M-FDS can be viewed as a simple extension of commonly held and accepted developmental psychological principles4 into the realm of the prenatal period. In a similar manner, it can be affirmed that this process of "extension" has occurred over the last several centuries into first the period of early childhood, then infancy, then the neonatal, and subsequently the perinatal periods. Each "extension" was initially resisted and only gradually accepted as the research evidence accumulated supporting the affirmations of the significance of each period for later psychological functioning.
A clear example of this can be seen regarding the changes in the perception of neonatal capabilities. Prior to the 1960's, the neonate was regarded as a purely physiological being.5 The introduction of Brazelton's "Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale" in 1970 for
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3Lake, "Report from the Research Department #2." 2.
4The most basic is the observation that the environment of an organism seems to have a hand in somehow shaping and molding that organism. The developmental Interaction between nature and nurture, between the organism itself and the immediate environment produces a particular individual with particular characteristics.
5H Rau, "Frühe Kindheit." in Entwicklungpsychologie eds. R. Oerter and L. Montada (München: Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1982), 131.
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the purpose of "better understanding the child's 'interactive behavior"6 had a profound effect of changing attitudes toward's the newbom. By 1973, William Jame's description of the neonatal world as "blooming, buzzing confusion"7 were being replaced by the concept of the "competent newborn."8 This notion is now fairly widely accepted. Rau, writing in 1983, described the change:
And so arose the picture of a baby that incorporates the essential and psychologically important characteristics-- even if they are still only rudimentary-- which also form the older child and adult, respectively. It is the picture of an active organism, one which contributes to its own development in interaction with the world around it. As a result, it can now even be described in terms of subject, not only in objective terms which are already well-known.9
It can be noted that the acceptance of the criticality of each developmental period is greatest for the later stages, with acceptance gradually lessening for each subsequent earlier period. Thus, hardly any resistance presently exists regarding the crucial impact of early childhood on later functioning; but resistance increases respectively for the affirmation of the impact of the infant period, the neonatal interval, the perinatal experience, and finally, intrauterine life on subsequent psychological functioning. Because of the difficulty in accumulating "evidence" for the earlier as opposed to the latter stages, more "evidence" exists regarding the critical importance of the later periods and thus, a greater acceptance of the "evidence".
Because of this, the dominant prevailing view of prenatal life continues to be one of viewing the fetus as relatively passive and inert physiologically and devoid of meaning psychologically and psychodynamically.10 As stated earlier, Freud would be typical of this
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6S. Schindler, "A New view of the Unborn: Toward a Developmental Psychology of the Prenatal Period," in Prenatal and Peri-natal Psychology and Medicine, eds. P.G. Fedor-Freybergh and M.LV. Vogel (Park Ridge, NJ: The Parthenon Publishing Group, 1988), 24.
7lbid.
8L.J. Stone, H.T. Smith and L.B. Murphy, The Competent Infant (New York: Basic Books, 1973).
9H. Rau, "Frühkindliche Entwicklung," in Entwinklungspsychologie, eds. R.K Silberseisen and L. Montada
(München: Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1983), 83, quoted and translated by S. Schindler, "A New View of the Unborn: Toward a Developmental Psychology of the Prenatal Period," 24.
10deMause cites Peterfreund as writing "psychoanalysis does not really ask 'When did it begin?' Instead, it asks a rather different question, "When after birth did it begin?" (Emanuel Peterlreund, Information Systems and Psychoanysis [New York: International Universities Press, 1971] , 74).
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view. For instance, he envisioned intrauterine life as similar to sleep, a condition of "absence of stimulation and avoidance of objects."11 With this underlying attitude widely accepted, the physiological and psychological capabilities of the fetus have been unknown, minimized or disregarded. A similar disregard and gross underestimation for the capabilities of newboms and infants has also existed, although, as mentioned above, research has gradually illustrated the amazing capabilities of infants and neonates. Even despite the evidence, many still regard infancy as somewhat devoid of psychological significance.12
This faulty understanding of fetal life continues to exist, and has existed, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that interest in embryology extending as far back as the Middle Ages and before, has been primarily oriented towards anatomy and the "mechanics" of
pregnancy and birth and not towards a fetal perspective. Thus, the legacy of this outlook has been to view the fetus, "apart from some aimless kicking which began in the fifth month. . . .
[as] as placid, fragile vegetable who developed quietly in preparation for a life which started at birth."13 Although interest in the intrauterine life has greatly expanded, there is still the
tendency to begin with adult functioning and work backwards, eventually arriving at the prenatal period. Intentional or not, this "comparative" mentality has contributed toward the regard of the preborn and neonates as inadequately functioning adults rather than well functioning fetuses and babies.
Another reason why a false understanding of fetal life continues is suggested by
deMause who has pointed out that many of those who subscribe to the "older view" of fetal
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11Ridgeway, The Unborn Child, 17, quoting Freud.
12Stone, Smith and Murphy list a series of statements from published books regarding infant capabilities. All have since been shown to be in error. A partial list follows: "Visual pursuit is absent for the first two weeks of life." (1930); "Until [cortical] development occurs [at almost a year] the motor behavior of the infant resembles that of the precordate animal." (1942); "It is even incorrect to say that the child sees, hears, feels unspecifically at birth. . . . The greatest part of everything which is going on does not reach the delicate system of the newborn. Only a few and very strong stimuli reach the infant's psyche at birth." (1948): "Behavior observable during the first two weeks of life [consists wholly of] different types of reflexes." (1952); "Newborn infants do not show sensory discrimination in any modality." (1961); "Consciousness, as we think of it, probably does not exist in the newborn. . . . The newborn child in unable to fix his eyes on objects." (1964); "The newborn has been considered largely a reflex organism, primarily controlled by his internal environment and organic processes, but responsive to a number of external impacts." (1966).
(L. Joseph Stone, Henrietta T. Smith and Lois B. Murphy, "The Competence of Infants," in The Competent Infant Research and Commentary. eds. L. Joseph Stone, Henrietta T. Smith and Lois B. Murphy [New York: Basic Books, 1973], 3-4).
13Liley, "The Foetus as a Personality," 192.
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life very often cite one study by Langeworthy in 1933 as evidence.14 This study made the assertion that "incomplete myelinization of sensory tracts" resulted in the inability of the fetus to receive neural messages from it's specialized sense receptors. However, research subsequent to Langeworthy's study has clearly shown that full myelinization, which occurs only after birth, is not essential for sensory functioning. While full myelinization does increase the rapidity of conduction, well-organized neural activity and sense receptivity is possible long before the nerve fibers are completely myelinated.15 DeMause writes that Langeworthy's "incomplete myelinization" misstatement "continues to be used to deny the ability of the fetus and the newborn to feel pain in many areas of medicine, from the use of aborted fetuses as subjects in painful medical experiments to the denial of anesthesia during circumcision and surgery of the newborn."16
Further, the modern discussion of the notion of "consciousness" as it relates to adults, and the difficulty in defining the term adequately, has lead to the view that the term itself is taboo. As Chamberlain points out:
It is unfortunate that for all concerned that these specialties [obstetrics and pediatrics] came to prominence in during as era of psychology when the subject of consciousness was taboo and neonates were considered essentially decorticate. Therefore, virtually all the routines of modem obstetrics and pediatrics presuppose an infant who is without personal thought, feeling, or memory -- a position which, I think, can no longer be reconciled with the facts.17
Fourthly, various ethical issues related to human embryological and fetal research have been raised which prevented certain types of investigations and thus certain data was simply unavailable. This lead to a reliance on comparative animal studies, which, although somewhat applicable, proved ultimately to be wanting due to the great variation between human and animal, and even human and mammalian, reproductive physiology, psychology and embryology. While still important, especially as it relates to research on various teratogens, animal studies obviously prove less than satisfactory when seeking data on
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14Langeworthy, "Development of Behavior Patterns and Myelinization of the Nervous System in the Human Fetus and Infant."
15Bekoft and Fox, "Postnatal Neural Ontology," 323-341.
16DeMause, Origins of Psychohistory, 253.
17Chamberlaln, Consciousness at Birth, 3.
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specifically and uniquely human characteristics. The lack of technology which would have allowed better observation and monitoring of the fetus "in utero" has also contributed toward a faulty understanding of fetal functioning. As technology, including intrauterine sonography, photography, sound spectrography, electroencephalography, x-ray and other forms of fetal monitoring, have become more and more sophisticated, they have opened up a window on the embryological and fetal life of human beings heretofore unavailable. In addition, various forms of medical technology has pushed the threshold of "viability" earlier and earlier, in a sense allowing external observation of the entire "third trimester."
Commenting on the confluence of these variables, Davies has written that perhaps
study of fetal life has been lacking due to the fact that the fetus itself was so "inconveniently tucked away in a most inaccessible situation. This area of medicine offered little opportunity for discovery, and did not attract much talent. why study a creature so passive, so dull, so small, and technically so difficult?"18
Sixthly, very often those who have made claims regarding the importance of the
prenatal period have been on the fringes of scientific credibility. Many of the important early modern thinker's reliance on what many have considered suspect procedures and
methodology have been generalized to their results. For instance, Francis Mott's heavy
reliance on the analysis of dreams and Stanislaf Grof's utilization of LSD both introduce a certain amount of doubt into the credibility of their claims regarding intra-uterine life. Furthermore, the association of descriptions of the prenatal period and affirmations of its cruciality with extensive use of hypnosis, age-regression, birth-reenactment, and primal techniques also constitutes a perceived credibility gap.
Lake himself, while aware of the problems of perception, was not immune to such speculations. In a paper written near the end of his life, he relates that initially he did not expect any memories of the first trimester stage to extend any earlier than the blastocystic phase, around 4 to 10 days after implantation. And yet, to his astonishment, when, in the
process of primal integration, people were given the opportunity to "become and ovum"19 or
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18G. S. Davies, "Revolutions and Cydical Rhythms in Prenatal Life: Fetal Respiratory Movements
Rediscovered," Pediatrics 51 (1973): 965, quoted in deMause, Foundations of Psychohistory, 251-252.
19"When offered the opportunity to 'become the ovum many do 'come upon' an astonishingly clear and -- what is more important -- to them powerfully significant and meaningful 'recall' of their existence as ovum. For some it is a life-affirming structure, eager for more life, and in that sense 'eager' for the entry of the sperm. For others. their ovum is a life-hating thing, negative to the experience' of being surrounded by eager sperms,
appalled when one of them 'gets in.' There is a strong horror experienced at getting involved with cell division for this is dragging an unwilling zygote into further growth and development. They protest at times with violent movements, against each stage, The first mitosis is felt to be a disaster and each successive one is resisted. some can feel the origins of a depressive cosmos, in which a life-hating mood feels hostile especially to offers of goodness and growth promoting care from the environment." (Lake, "The Internal Consistency of the Theory of a Maternal-Foetal Distress Syndrome," 4).
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"become a sperm"20 many did express a strong identification with a memory of this time.
In light of these findings, Lake wrote:
I am painfully aware this openness to change, in the wake of the evidence
derived from the same sort of 'therapeutic regression' as enabled us to discover
the Maternal-Foetal distress Syndrome in the first place, comes to look more like a 'reductio ad absurdum'.21
Lake continues and states that to ask people to accept first the reality and importance of pre-natal events, then first trimester events is hard enough for some to countenance. He proceeds:
But to push the matter earlier is to risk being laughed out of court. The
temptation to suppress the indications of 'transmissions' from pre-zygote states can also be picked up, so as to limit the required paradigm change to
embryonic and foetal life, and hope to have that accepted as a first stage, has not gone beyond the temptation. Having determined to proceed in the wake of the evidence, one might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.22
What has perhaps compounded this perception has been the very broad manner in which the two major organizations23 devoted to prenatal "psychological" research have
defined the scope of their agenda. For instance, the Pre- and Pen-Natal Psychology
Association of North America (PPPANA) sponsored the publication of a book of collected
papers presented at the First International Conference of Pre-and Perinatal Psychology held
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20"Other subjects 'pick up' a strong, vigorous identification with the successful sperm. They identify with it as expressing a totally different 'spirit' from that of themselves as ovum. In the same work-room responding to the same opportunity for regressive identification, others 'pick up' quite a different "spirit or 'mood' in themselves as sperm. It is not always vigorous. At times it is slow, lazy, dilatory and unwilling to get involved in the task of penetrating, and being swallowed up by the huge ovum -- felt to be unpleasant, at times dangerous, at times 'smothering' experience." (ibid.)
21lbid.
22lbid., 4-5.
23The International Society of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (ISPPM) is composed mainly of European researchers while the Pre- and Pen-Natal Psychology Association of North America (PPPANA) is obviously composed mainly of North Americans. The former organization has over 700 members while the latter is in the 400 range.
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in Toronto in 1983. while most of the papers are scientifically rigorous, some with titles such as "Perinatal Imagery in UFO Abduction Reports"24 and "The Fetal Origins of History"25 easily lend the impression that the entire pre-natal psychology enterprise is less than scientific.26
Another illustration of both the widely defined subject area and the perceived credibility gap of the field of prenatal psychology is provided by Roy Ridgeway's book, The Unborn Child. He writes that his book "is about pre- and pen-natal psychology, which is a wide and fascinating area of study. It is concerned with pre-conceptual and ante-natal care, with the health and happiness of the pregnant woman as well as her unborn child. The facts and theories have been gathered from many disciplines: gynaecology, obstetrics, paediatrics, classical Freudian, behavioristic, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, mythology, anthropology, philosophy and the religions of the East and West."27 Earlier, in his prelude to the book, Ridgeway writes that his interaction with Frank Lake "was the beginning of a fascinating journey. . . . who knows where it will lead? In recent years we have learnt a great deal about how the child develops in the womb, not only physically but psychically. Could the next step be to follow this journey back before conception? Or even to previous lives, perhaps?28
Given all of the above, it is not surprising that some of the claims made by Lake with regard to his M-FDS were greeted and continue to be greeted, with incredulity and skepticism. This was and continues to be the case even among some of the members of the Clinical Theology Association which Lake himself founded in 1966 and directed up to his death in 1983. Many have made criticisms as to the reliability of the "data" which Lake used to formulate the M-FDS.
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24Alvin H. Lawson, Perinatal Imagery in UFO Abduction Reports, in Pre- and Peri-Natal PsychoIogy, An lntroduction, ed. Thomas R. Verny (New York: Human Sciences Press, 1987), 260-291.
25Lloyd deMause, "The Fetal Origins of History" in Pre- and Peri-Natal Psychology, An Introduction, ed. Thomas R. Vemy (New York: Human Sciences Press, 1987), 243-259.
26A further example of this would be to cite a recent issue of the quarterly journal of the PPPANA Pre- and Peri-NataI Psychology Journal, which has been published since 1987. Included in the Winter 1990 issue were articles with titles such as "The Role of Sex and Pregnancy in Satanic Cults" and "Womb = Woman = World:
Gender Transcendence in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism."
27Ridgeway, The Unborn Child, 8-9.
28Ibid., vii-viii.
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