baby is in need. The more these come up as a pattern for the mother, the more problematic that is.”
A
s Alissa Huth-Bocks, associate professor of psychology and Ahlfs-Dunn’s mentor, points out, such representations “have been shown to be related to serious parenting difficulties, including maltreatment, and serious social-emotional problems in the young child. Sarah is doing some amazing research that will make big contributions to our field.” It could certainly be a boon to clinicians. “We tend to find that traumatized mothers have these difficulties, so this is something that would be very important and of interest to people working with traumatized women,” says Huth-Bocks. “If we have a better sense of what can predict disrupted representations,” adds Ahlfs- Dunn, “then when they see a mother with a history of trauma that can affect mom-baby relationships, they can assess for the mother’s representations and do the interventions based on where their needs are.” Her work has attracted attention in its most tangible form. In the last year, Ahlfs- Dunn has received external grants, totaling $10,000, from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the International Psychoanalytic Association to support her
dissertation. “I believe she is the first student in our doctoral program to receive so much external funding,” says Huth- Bocks.
Another first is in the offing. Ahlfs-Dunn and Huth-Bocks have organized and will present the first-ever symposium focused on disrupted maternal relationships at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in April, featuring four presentations of research conducted in labs in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. “It’s so new, so there’s still so much that can be learned,” says Ahlfs-Dunn. “I hope after I get my PhD that I have a research career and this continues to be a big piece of it. I really believe in and value the power of early experiences.”
Choosing Eastern for graduate school wasn’t exactly a close call for her. “I was really interested in how mothers’ experiences can be passed down and impact their children,” she says, “so I was looking for researchers and professors who had done work in that area, and I had already become interested in maternal representations from looking at Alissa’s work. “How grateful I am to be
here. I would not be able to do this research that I feel very passionate about without the great support that I have received.” 3
—Jeff Mortimer
Eastern | SPRING 2013 11
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