Episodes

  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Maria Muzik and Dr. Katherine Rosenblum about Mom Power, a parenting intervention they developed, and how it impacts parents and the parental brain. Both are Professors in the Departments Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology, as well as Co-Directors of Zero To Thrive & Women and Infant Mental Health Program at the University of Michigan.

    We talk about the development of Mom Power, it’s core components and the research supporting the importance of this group intervention. We also talk about attachment, the importance of nature, and building ‘strong roots’.

    It was an honor to speak with these two inspiring clinician-scientists. If you work with parents, this episode is a must.

    For more information on Mom Power and Zero to Thrive, including research and training opportunities see: https://zerotothrive.org/

    Here is a link to the paper on the parental brain that we talk about: https://zerotothrive.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Frontiers-Mom-Power.pdf

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Jonny Kohl, Group Leader, State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.

    We talk about his new research on how the hormones of pregnancy affect specific neurons in the MPOA that essential for parenting. It’s a fascinating new finding and provides valuable insight into the neuroendocrine factors governing parental care.

    We also talk about whether or not we should be using reproductively experienced females more in general neuroscience research because of the long-term impact of pregnancy on the brain, the importance of state in general and practical considerations for doing these types of studies.

    It’s a good one. You won’t want to miss it.

    For more information on Dr Kohl and his group: https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/jonny-kohl

    Here is a link to the paper we talk about: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0576

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Pascal Vrticka, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex. We talk about all thing’s attachment and neural synchrony in mother-child and father-child dyads.

    We also talk about attachment parenting and how our beliefs about parenting can impact how our brain functions. Fascinating!

    Don’t miss this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited. It willmake you rethink about how the parental brain is working and why!

    For more information on Dr Vrticka’s work: https://pvrticka.com/

    For a free pdf of the book we talk about see: https://babygro.org/babygro-book

    Follow Dr Vrticka on Instagram @pascalvrticka where you at ask him about attachment in his Q&A!

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. KristinaM. Deligiannidis, MD, Professor, Institute of Behavioral Science, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Director, Women’s Behavioral Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health, Professor, Psychiatry, Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, USA.

    We talk about her research on the development of neurosteroid treatments for postpartum depression.

    In particular we talk about her work on the new FDA approved oral medication for postpartum depression – Zuranolone as well as some practical information on Zuranolone, itself.

    Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain Revisited. It’s an important one for understanding the current treatment options and challenges for perinatal mental illness.

    For more information on Dr Deligiannidis’ work and her contact information see:

    https://feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-researchers/our-researchers/kristina-m-deligiannidis-md

    Download one of the publications that we talk about here: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.20220785

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. DevaleenaPradhan, Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology and Physiology at Idaho State University, USA.

    We talk about fatherhood, the neural mechanisms mediating parenting, the origins of parenting behaviors and more.

    We also talk about her research on parenting in sex-changing fish and what we can learn from them.

    Don’t miss this episode. It will make you rethink sex/gender and parenting!

    For more information on Dr Pradhan’s work and her contact information see: https://www.isu.edu/biology/people/faculty---professors/--devaleena-s-pradhan/

    Download one of the publications that we talk about here:

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24827441/

    Music: Luna Wave via Soundstrip

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Tara Chaplin, Associate Professor of Psychology at George Mason University, USA. We talk about parenting, mindfulness, and the parental brain. We also talk about the importance of mindfulness in terms of parenting tweens and teens, how mindfulness helps empower parents to parent with intention (wow!), and her ongoing research in this area. Don’t miss this episode on Mommy Brain Revisited. It will make you want to be more mindful!

    Download the publication that we talk about here: Affective Neural Mechanisms of a Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7962669/pdf/nihms-1525033.pdf

    For more information on Dr Chaplin’s work: https://yel.gmu.edu/

    Although the Mindfulness intervention they use is not readily available it is based on MBSR or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction techniques and other evidence based interventions.

    Book recommendation: Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn.

    Citation of study we talk about: Turpyn CC, Chaplin TM, Fischer S, Thompson JC, Fedota JR, Baer RA, Martelli AM. Affective Neural Mechanisms of a Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention. Mindfulness (N Y). 2021 Feb;12(2):392-404. doi: 10.1007/s12671-019-01118-6. Epub 2019 Feb 16.

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Robert Froemke, Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and SkirballProfessor of Genetics, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at New York University. We talk about oxytocin neurons, learning to parent andalloparenting. We also talk about the importance of experience with offspring, making mistakes, and ‘mouse midwifery’. Don’tmiss this episode on Mommy Brain. So interesting!

    Download the publication in Nature that we talk about here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34381215/

    For more information on Dr Froemke’s work: https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/robert-c-froemke

    Citation: Carcea I, Caraballo NL, Marlin BJ, Ooyama R,Riceberg JS, Mendoza Navarro JM, Opendak M, Diaz VE, Schuster L, AlvaradoTorres MI, Lethin H, Ramos D, Minder J, Mendoza SL, Bair-Marshall CJ, SamadjopoulosGH, Hidema S, Falkner A, Lin D, Mar A, Wadghiri YZ, Nishimori K, Kikusui T,Mogi K, Sullivan RM, Froemke RC. Oxytocin neurons enable social transmission ofmaternal behaviour. Nature. 2021 Aug;596(7873):553-557. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03814-7. Epub 2021 Aug 11. PMID: 34381215; PMCID:PMC8387235.

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Valerie Miller, a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Purdue University. We talk about herrecent research on ‘Mommy Brain’ in the USA and the importance of studying how moms feel and the cultural factors that can influence mommy brain and motherhood. You won't want to miss this episode!

    Download the publication here: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/etho.12381

    Citation: Valerie Miller, Marcy Price-Crist. Mommy brain in the United States. First published: 18 January 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12381

    Music: Luna Wave via Soundstripe

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Elseline Hoekzema, Assistant Professor, Adult Psychiatry and Amsterdam Neuroscience at Amsterdam University Medical Centers. We talk about her recent research published Nature Communications on how pregnancy impacts brain structure and function. This is a fascinating area of research!

    Download the publication here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33884-8

    For more information about Dr. Hoekzema see:  https://www.amsterdamumc.org/en/research/researchers/elseline-a.-hoekzema.htm

    Citation: Hoekzema, E., van Steenbergen, H., Straathof, M. et al. Mapping the effects of pregnancy on resting state brain activity, white matter microstructure, neural metabolite concentrations and grey matter architecture. Nat Commun 13, 6931 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33884-8

    For more about Dr. Jodi Pawluski see: www.jodipawluski.com

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I read our viewpoint in JAMA Neurology titled "It's time to rebrand 'Mommy Brain'" published Feb 6, 2023 and authored by Dr Clare McCormack, Dr Bridget Callaghan and myself. 

    We also talk about how we are rebranding 'Mommy Brain'. 

    For the print version of the viewpoint see:  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/2801288

    Citation: McCormack C, Callaghan BL, Pawluski JL. It’s Time to Rebrand “Mommy Brain”. JAMA Neurol. Published online February 06, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.5180

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Margaret Bublitz, a Clinical Psychologist and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Medicine, in the Department of Psychiatry, at the Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University. 

    We talk about her research on how child maltreatment early in life can modify the maternal brain in human mothers. We also talk about the need to support mothers, in general, and to talk more about the reality of motherhood. Such an interesting one you won’t want to miss!

    For more information about Dr. Bublitz and her research see:

    https://www.brown.edu/public-health/mindfulness/people/margaret-bublitz-phd

    Publication details: Bublitz MH, Swain J, Lustig S, Barthelemy C, DeYoung L, Dickstein D. Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Brain Responses to Infant Cues Across the Postpartum Period. Child Maltreat. 2022 Sep 24:10775595221128952. doi: 10.1177/10775595221128952. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36154501.

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  • On this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited talk with Emma Jane Unsworth, British writer and bestselling author. We talk about her memoir After the Storm: Postnatal Depression and the Utter Weirdness of New Motherhood and what she did to prepare for her second pregnancy and postpartum experience.  This podcast episode is part of a collaboration with InSPIre the Mind – a digital magazine – where we have been doing a series on Maternal Mental Health. Listen to the podcast, read the book and check out the maternal mental health series. All are musts.

    For more on Emma Jane Unsworth’s book After the Storm: Postnatal Depression and the Utter Weirdness of New Motherhood see: https://www.waterstones.com/book/after-the-storm/emma-jane-unsworth/9781788166553

    You can read the Maternal Mental Health series here: https://www.inspirethemind.org/our-series

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  • On this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Prof Carmine Pariante, a psychiatrist and professor at King's College London. This episode is part of a collaboration with InSPIre the Mind – a digital magazine – where we are doing a series of blogs on maternal mental illness. Over the next month check out stories from the series at : https://www.inspirethemind.org/our-series

    In this episode we talk about the different mental illnesses that can occur during the perinatal period, the causes for these illnesses, and the need to improve our support to those who birth the next generation.

    You can read the InSPIre the Mind Maternal Mental Illness series here: https://www.inspirethemind.org/our-series

    For more about Prof Carmine Pariante see: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/professor-carmine-pariante

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Amanda Kentner a Full Professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in the USA. We talk about her recent research published at eNeuro on the important role that enrichment can play in parenting and development. Don’t miss this episode on cutting edge research in behavioral neuroscience. So interesting!

    Download the publication here: https://www.eneuro.org/content/9/4/ENEURO.0148-22.2022

    For more information about Prof. Kentner’s research see https://www.kentnerlab.org/

    Citations: DeRosa H, Caradonna SG, Tran H, Marrocco J, Kentner AC. Milking It for All It's Worth: The Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Maternal Nurturance, Lactation Quality, and Offspring Social Behavior. eNeuro. 2022 Aug 25;9(4):ENEURO.0148-22.2022. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0148-22.2022. PMID: 35995560.

    Follow @dr.jodi_pawluski on instagram for more on how the brain changes with parenting. 

    https://www.jodipawluski.com/

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Bridget Callaghan, an Assistant Professor at UCLA, about recent research she’s done on memory during pregnancy. Love this research! We talk about “baby brain”, hippocampal-dependent memory changes during pregnancy – what the data shows, how we need to think about memory and motherhood, and where research needs to go to understand memory changes during the perinatal period in birthing and non-birthing parents.

    For more about her research see: https://brainandbodylab.psych.ucla.edu/

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Ruth Feldman, the Simms-Mann Professor of Developmental Social Neuroscience at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzlia with joint appointment at Yale Child Study Center. We talk about her recent research on neural synchrony and how maternal cues can aid in neural synchrony between strangers and infants. We also talk about the importance of understanding brain changes with perinatal mental illness and her ongoing research on the parental brain. 

    Don’t miss this episode on cutting edge research from a leader in the field!

    For more information about Dr. Feldman’s research see https://ruthfeldmanlab.com/

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. James Rilling a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University in the USA. We talk about his research on brain changes in human fathers. So cool! We also talk the interplay between oxytocin, testosterone, dad brain changes as well as tradeoffs between parenting and mating and more! Don’t miss this episode and share it with a dad near you.

    For more information about Dr. Rilling’s research see: http://anthropology.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/rilling.html

    For more about me see www.jodipawluski.com

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Siobhain O’Mahony a Senior Lecturer at University College Cork, Ireland. We talk about the the Brain-Gut axis (or axes) and the role of the gut microbiome in pregnancy and postpartum. We also talk about the role that stress can play on this system. She updates us on how birth mode may affect the developing microbiome in infants - something that's been in the news a lot the past few years - and we talk about practical ways to mind our microbiome. We could have talked all day! 

    For more information about Dr. O’Mahony and her research: http://publish.ucc.ie/profiles/C003/somahony 

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Ann-Marie de Lange a Maitre-Assistant Ambizione FNS (Assistant Professor) at the Centre for Research in Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, l'Universite de Lausanne, Switzerland. We talk about her research on motherhood and brain-aging in middle aged women. We also talk about the importance of understanding the female brain throughout life, not only in the context of motherhood but also with menopause and aging. And, no, you don’t have to parent to have an amazing brain. Don’t miss this episode on the brain and women’s health!

    For more information about Dr. de Lange’s research click here https://www.unil.ch/lren/home/menuinst/teams-science/femilab---womens-brain-health.html

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  • In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr. Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Marquette University in the USA. We talk about her research on sociocultural stressors and maternal mental health in Latinx populations in the US. We talk about the impact of systemic racism and microaggressions on pre- and post-natal maternal mental health and how these factors affect physiological health. We also talk about how she is using community-engaged research to address perinatal mental health disparities in Latina women and their children. 

    For more information about Dr. D'Anna-Hernandez's research listen now. You can also contact her at https://www.marquette.edu/psychology/directory/kimberly-danna-hernandez.php

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