Publications by authors named "Judy A Pickard"

Tom Andersen's reflecting team approach invited family members to hear the dialogues between professionals in response to their stories. This study aimed to explore intersubjective reflexivity during reflecting team group supervision, by observing resonances between group members. Twelve hours of reflecting team group supervision was transcribed and analyzed using Systemic Functional Linguistics.

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Parents' language use is an important context for early socialization. We examined the relationship between parents' self-reported mindfulness and observed language use in two forms of attachment-relevant communication. Sixty-three parents of 6-18-month-old infants from Australia (n = 32) and New Zealand (n = 31) completed the five facets of mindfulness-short form (FFMQ-SF) questionnaire, the adult attachment interview (AAI), and a 10-min play session with their infant.

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The profound development that occurs during the first five years of a child's life may contribute to military families with young children facing unique challenges during reintegration. Yet, little is known about the reintegration experiences of military families with young children, and less so from the perspectives of non-deployed parents and families outside of the US. In this qualitative study, we explored the reintegration experiences of Australian Defense Force (ADF) families with young children (five years and younger).

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Background: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a chronic, debilitating, and difficult to treat condition. BPD has recently been linked to steroid hormone dysregulation and medical conditions characterized by disturbed androgen metabolism. This study aimed to investigate cortisol and testosterone levels in BPD, and changes in hormones following psychological treatment.

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Background: Self-harm presents significant risk for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Both self-harm and BPD are associated with deficits in mindfulness and emotion dysregulation. Previous research suggests that thought suppression and emotional inexpressivity may underpin self-harm in people with BPD, suggesting potential links to self-harm functions common for those with BPD.

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Mindfulness is increasingly offered to parents of children presenting with behavioral problems, either as a stand-alone intervention, or integrated within existing behavioral parenting interventions. There is relatively modest support for mindful parenting, with small to medium effect size improvements demonstrated across child and parent outcome measures. Here we introduce a mindfulness and imagery enhanced behavioral parenting program.

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Background: Parent mental health and wellbeing may have implications for understanding attachment transmission. In this systematic review, we synthesise the published literature to determine the nature of the relationship between parent mental health and wellbeing and the intergenerational transmission of attachment and to provide recommendations for future research, clinical practice and intervention.

Method: Using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) approach, five electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed empirical studies, published in English.

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Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a high prevalence and serious mental health disorder that has historically challenged the finite resources of health services. Despite empirical evidence supporting structured psychological therapy as the first line of treatment, there remains significant barriers in providing timely access to evidence-based treatment for this population. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of providing a stepped-care structured psychological group treatment to individuals with BPD within local mental health services.

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The perinatal period is a time of significant transition for women, with changes in maternal mental health from pregnancy to 18 months' postpartum. This study specifically analyzes maternal self-criticism and mindfulness during pregnancy and at 18 months' postpartum, and their associations with bonding. A longitudinal study (30 weeks' gestation-18 months' postpartum) assessed 32 mother-infant dyads, examining changes in maternal depression, anxiety, self-criticism, and mindfulness.

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Background: There is a strong interest in the concept of developmental origins of health and disease and their influence on various factors "from cradle to grave". Despite the increasing appreciation of this lifelong legacy across the human life course, many gaps remain in the scientific understanding of mechanisms influencing these formative phases. Cross-generational susceptibility to health problems is emerging as a focus of research in the context of birth cohort studies.

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The cross-generational transmission of attachment appears to reflect a complex interplay of factors, which have been challenging to identify. The current longitudinal study explored the maternal cognitive model of relationships through language use, maternal mindfulness, and attachment style assessed prenatally, as predictors of maternal response to distress and infant behavior at 6 months' postpartum. Infant behavior to the mother also was examined to provide an understanding of the evolving relationship.

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The cross-generational influence of attachment security or insecurity on caregiving is well-established. Recently, research has focused on mindfulness as a potential variable to interrupt the transmission of insecure attachment and disrupt its effect across generations. Thirty-six pregnant female participants completed the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire and Relationship Questionnaire-Clinical Version at 30 weeks' gestation.

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