Dr. Welch’s lab dramatic photos show the abundant oxytocin receptors in the gut of infant rodents. Prior to Dr. Welch’s discovery, oxytocin was believed to be primarily a brain hormone.
Neurohormone oxytocin has traditionally been associated with childbirth. Now, thanks to 50 years of inspiration and efforts by physicians and researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, we now know that oxytocin can have a profound impact on inflammation and development and well-being. The journey into the depths of human biology reveals how oxytocin orchestrates some of the closest aspects of our lives, from the bond between mother and baby to its unexpected role in physical health. This new study on oxytocin in the gut, coupled with Dr. Welch’s clinical trial of family intervention, challenges some of the longest hypotheses of science about behavior. It also opens exciting new possibilities for the prevention and treatment of infants and children with a variety of emotional and developmental problems.
“This is my 50-year career in medicine and research, and the people who influence and help me in the process,” Martha G. Welch, professor of psychiatry in pediatrics and pathology and cell biology, professor of psychiatry in pediatrics and pathology and cell biology. )explain. A detailed review of her clinical and basic research, recently published in the journal Integrated Psychological Endocrinology. Dr. Welch explained that her research shows that oxytocin plays a more important role than previously thought in establishing and maintaining individual physical health and brain function. “In addition to its biological functions in the body, oxytocin is also crucial to a social hormone. This is often called “love hormone” because it creates a social behavior and bond for our social behaviors and links. Lifetime effects. “Oxytocin has a relationship that prevents socially and physiologically loneliness and relieves stress-induced inflammation.
Dr. Welch and her team conducted a randomized controlled trial within nine years of mothers and prematurely born infants. The trial compared the Family Parenting Intervention (FNI) with standard care. The purpose of FNI is to be emotionally mother and baby before leaving the hospital. The trial showed significant results. So far, Dr. Welch and her team have published 17 peer-reviewed articles showing that the relatively small doses in the hospital promote FNI (average 24 hours and six weeks per week) lead to significantly improved development outcomes, And stronger bonds. For example, infants in the FNI group showed lower heart rate and increased brain activity during NICU stay, while mothers significantly relieved symptoms of depression. “FNI infants exhibited significantly superior neurobehavioral development in the short and long term, as well as healthier autonomous function and development trajectory. In addition, FNI mothers showed significantly enhanced cardiovascular responses, even during the five-year follow-up period , this reaction will continue,” Dr. Welch said.
(Photo Attribution: Robert J Ludwig)
Additionally, Dr. Welch and her team have developed the novel Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS), a proven evaluation tool that measures parent and infant/child relationships in a directional reflex test. Emotional behavior. This tool is invaluable in both research and clinical settings, helping healthcare professionals evaluate and promote emotional interactions that are essential for healthy development.
At the heart of Dr. Welch’s work is her theory of autonomous co-regulation, which challenges traditional brain regulation models. “When we connect, our bodies participate in a process called autonomic nerve co-regulation. Dr. Welch explains that this is the process in which our nervous system synchronizes and calms down each other. Her conventional psychological definition of co-regulation Described, the definition describes how individuals influence each other’s behavior and emotions, a step in proposing to function at a deeper physiological level, for our biology, productivity, resilience, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life , lifespan, lifespan, longevity, lifespan and even happiness.
Dr. Welch’s research is demonstrating that co-regulation and oxytocin can influence a wide range of physiological and behavioral outcomes, from reducing infant stress responses to enhancing social behavior in older children. “Dr. Welch is an outstanding scientist with unique clinical and biological insights, and her research shows. “Dr. Welch is the first to recognize that the behavior of parent-child calming behavior is to induce labor. Release of proteins (such as oxytocin) and the release of consequences of the human autonomic nervous system. Surprisingly, she used this information to develop fast and effective new parenting interventions to overcome behavioral and developmental disorders. ”
Dr. Welch’s latest research and publications continue to attract attention from the scientific community. For example, a frontier article in the 2023 Psychology Journal titled “Preschool-based mother-son emotional preparation program improves emotional connections, behavioral regulation in families and classrooms: a randomized controlled trial” reported significant emotional connections between mothers. A fivefold increase compared to the control pair, 6-month-old children’s pair.
Dr. Welch’s research is just beginning to gain wider recognition, and Dr. Welch hopes to inspire a new generation of researchers to explore the complex interaction between biology and emotional health. Dr. Welch reflected: “I hope to inspire young men and women who are starting their careers.”
Welch’s ongoing research is expected to further reshape our understanding of human biology and emotional connections and highlight her role as a pioneering figure in the medical sciences.
Journal Reference
Welch, MG (2024). Wonderful voyage: Chase oxytocin from the bedside to the bench and then back. Comprehensive Psychological Myoendocrinology, 17, 100213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2023.100213
About the Author
Martha G. WelchMD has been a pioneer in emotional, behavioral and developmental disabilities for nearly 50 years. Decades of clinical observations have led her to create a new “autonomous” emotion theory that focuses on the supremacy of the parent-child co-regulation process in the development of children. Dr. Welch established the Nurture Science program at Columbia University Medical Center to conduct basic and clinical research aimed at illuminating the mechanisms of parent-child regulation with parents and parent-child, allowing her to validate her own theoretical structure of emotional connections. Recently, she and a team of dedicated colleagues Martha G. Welch Emotional Connection Center Provide direct assistance to families struggling infants and children with behavioral problems.
