The Decline of Empathy: A Hopeful Solution (www.claudiamgoldmd.blogspot.com)

Here is an excerpt from a recent blog post by Dr. Claudia M. Gold.Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton was among the first to recognize the tremendous capacity of the newborn for complex connection and communication. Developmental psychologist Ed Tronick, drawing on this observation, designed the famous Still-Face Experiment to show the devastation, for both parent and baby, when they struggle to connect. Extensive research at the interface of developmental psychology, neuroscience, and genetics, as I document in my first book, shows the long-term benefit of investing in early parent-child relationships.

"Once you know it, you can't un-know it." My wise colleague Kyle Pruett, MD child psychiatrist, said this of the power of working with parents together with very young children to a move a family in a healthy direction.

After having recently written The Silenced Child, an admittedly dark account of how our society fails to listen to parents and children, and the potentially disastrous effects of this course of action, I am overjoyed to now be writing about a hopeful solution to this problem. The following piece, published in our local paper on Sunday, offers a view into the work unfolding in this small rural town in Western Massachusetts. My hope is to bring this model to other communities. The aim is to offer this listening stance to all babies and families without potentially stigmatizing parents by identifying them as "at-risk."
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Note: Dr. Gold will be the featured guest in our next Parenting with ACEs Chat on Tuesday, July 11th at 10AM PST / 1 PM EST. See details below.

Dr. Claudia M. Gold has practiced general and behavioral pediatrics for 25 years and specializes in early childhood mental health. She is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health program, William James College, and the Austen Riggs Center where she is a Human Development consultant. Dr. Gold has authored the following titles: The Developmental Science of Early Childhood, The Silenced Child, and Keeping Your Child in Mind.We are thrilled to have her as the featured guest for the July, Parenting with ACEs chat. We’ll chat about: