title: Maternal substance abuse: infant psychiatric interest: a review and a hypothetical model of interaction.
abstract: Substance abuse problems have strongly increased among Finnish women during the last decade. The negative effects that maternal substance abuse is thought to have on the quality of early mother-baby interaction are an area of interest and concern to specialists in infant mental health. During pregnancy and the newborn period of the infant, substance-abusing women have been shown to be especially willing and able to reduce use once the problem is identified. The desire to stop abusing substances appears to be predicated on a strong desire to be a good mother to the child. Interventions that focus on abstaining during pregnancy and on the early mother-child relationship have shown promise in helping these mothers improve the developmental prognosis of the child and become better parents through sobriety.
authors.affiliation: Child Psychiatry Clinic, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pajulo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Savonlahti
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piha
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D008954:Models, Biological; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*