Table Of ContentPrenatal Bonding Analysis
This book presents a novel psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic method
which enables expectant mothers to establish communication with their
unborn babies.
After an exploration of the root aspects of pre- and perinatal psychology
and psychoanalysis, details of the practice of prenatal bonding analysis are
introduced. The volume concludes with 15 interviews where mothers who
experienced the bonding analysis give first-hand accounts of their encounters.
With its theoretical, practical and testimonial threefold structure, the book
aims at reaching out to both specialists and a general readership, especially
prospective parents.
György Hidas, MD (1925–2012) was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
He specialized primarily in the work of Sándor Ferenczi and prenatal
bonding analysis.
Jenő Raffai, PhD (1954–2015) was a psychologist and psychoanalyst with a
main focus on pre- and perinatal psychology and bonding analysis.
Judit Vollner pursued a career as an actress and then as a science journalist.
Currently, she leads communication trainings based on acting techniques.
Prenatal Bonding Analysis
The Invisible Umbilical Cord
György Hidas, Jenő Raffai and
Judit Vollner
Cover image: © Getty Images
First English edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 György Hidas, Jenő Raffai and Judit Vollner
The right of György Hidas, Jenő Raffai and Judit Vollner to be identified
as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First published in Hungarian in 2002 as Lelki k ld kzsin r – Beszlgetek a
ö ö ó é
kisbabámmal by Válasz könyvkiadó, Budapest
Translation by Krisztina Horváth and Anna Major
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hidas, György, author. | 1 Raffai, Jeno, author | 1 Vollner, Judit,
author
Title: Prenatal bonding analysis : the invisible umbilical cord /
György Hidas, Jeno Raffai, and Judit Vollner
Description: 1 Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2 |
Includes bibliographical references
Identifiers: LCCN 2022032215 (print) | LCCN 202203 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032364230 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032346335 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003331865 (ebook)
Subjects:
Classification: LCC BF720.P73 H53 2023 (print) | LCC BF720.P73
(ebook) | DDC 618.2/4019--dc23/eng/20220823
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022032215
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022032216
ISBN: 9781032364230 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032346335 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003331865 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003331865
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
Foreword viii
Introduction xi
1 The intelligent foetus 1
Prenatal behaviour 2
Self-induced activity 2
Reactive behaviour 4
Interactive-social movements 5
Contributions of research on premature births 6
Learning and memory 7
Auditory behaviour 8
Rhythm 9
Melody 11
Harmony 11
The musicality of the baby 12
A few words on lullabies 13
The significance of emotions and music 13
2 The ultrasonographic observation of foetal life 14
3 The effect of maternal stress and anxiety on
the foetus and child 22
4 Later effects of unwanted pregnancies 27
Empirical analyses 31
The Prague experiment 33
Initial results 33
vi Contents
The start in life 34
Development from a health and societal standpoint 34
Second and third phases of research 35
Experimental results 35
Conclusions 36
5 The psyche of the foetus in the mirror of
psychoanalytic theories 37
6 Approaches to the unconscious 44
7 The method of mother–foetus bonding analysis 55
8 Intrauterine encounters 75
Csilla Cseri: “You could see from his eyes that he wanted to know
what the world had in store for him” 75
Györgyi Szántó: “I felt that this kid has always been here and that
we knew each other” 80
Andrea Fejérvári: “You get to know yourself better as well” 88
Judit Gombocz: “As if I were hearing it with my non-existent
third ear, feeling it in my heart and soul” 91
Mónika Szoboszlai: “I want to unveil what it is to be” 97
Judit Pásztor: “When his head popped out, he immediately
opened his eyes and looked around curiously” 102
Angelika Seres: “… I found myself in a vast space, there,
the baby appeared” 109
Myrtill Várnai: “He basically exclaimed: I am not a
girl!” 115
Kinga Aradi: “Zita chose her own name” 120
Katalin Forró: “I felt she could hear and understand the things
I told her and that they really did get to her” 126
Adrienn Fenyvesi: “I had a strong feeling of being one with
him” 133
Enikő Pianovszky: “After we made contact, he was jumping
up and down for joy” 138
Csilla Pethe-Tóth: “It was like we both stepped out of our
body” 145
Contents vii
Klára Lipcsei: “… I was inside, way inside, and outside I was
tearing” 152
Zsófi Müller: “… flight has a goal, but it is unknown what it
is” 160
Tables 167
References 169
Index 173
Foreword
A revolution is taking place in present-day psychology, regarding the field of
prenatal, intrauterine research. It has been proven that a human life, in psycho-
logical terms, begins not at birth, but conception. A new culture is blossoming
at the heels of this discovery, which brings us closer to the roots of our being
and prompts us to once and for all change our perception of humanity and
the world. It is especially significant for us that two Hungarian psychoanalysts,
György Hidas and Jenő Raffai, developed the methodology of establishing a
connection between a mother and the foetus developing in her womb, the
so-called mother–foetus bonding analysis, which aids the development of an
invisible umbilical cord carrying signals and information between the two.
Some international scientific circles deem this practice the greatest “invention”
since psychoanalysis; with its help, it is not only possible to set not-yet-born
infants on an optimal course of development but also to intervene with poten-
tially life-saving results in what were thought to be purely biological processes,
such as the untimely atrophy of the placenta or the rupture of the foetal mem-
brane, which have been the cause of foetal death and premature and physically
harmful births.
In 2001, the United Nations commissioned a panel of 12 scientists to, as
part of its International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for
the Children of the World initiative, develop a parenting programme which it
could recommend to the governments of its constituent nations. Jenő Raffai,
one of the authors of this book and the president of the Hungarian Society
for Pre- and Perinatal Medicine and Psychology, was also invited to join this
exclusive panel – a proof of the international acclaim of the results of Hungarian
research. An international training programme will soon be initiated to adopt
this new technique.
The recognition of intrauterine connections may enter common knowl-
edge as a veritable mental bomb, so we can say without exaggeration that our
book uncovers thus far unknown depths of the creation of life and the human
psyche, of the origin of interpersonal relationships and attempts to solve the
mystery of the earliest, most profound and most intimate relationship that can
ever exist between two people. Perhaps we are not using too great a word
when we are of the opinion that this informative book, accessible to all, is
Foreword ix
the first in the world to report of the experiences of expectant mothers who
have established an unfiltered connection with their baby still in the womb,
constitutes a sensation. In the self-revealing accounts, which are shockingly
powerful and sometimes filled with humour, new mothers attempt to express
the intangible state in which they were connected to their baby. The honest
retellings see the mothers reliving the scenes that took them aback, the coded
messages, the dialogues taking place after a transfer of thoughts. From their
accounts, the stories of how an unknown dimension, a new channel, where
they could experience the joy of finding one another, their babies’ emotions,
intentions, and even their character, unfold sensitively in front of the reader.
Naturally, mothers with different personalities and attitudes approached their
babies through differing pathways, thus experiencing contact at various levels
of intensity. However, they are unanimous when it comes to the effects of
prenatal bonding analysis. Following birth, there was recognition in the locked
eyes of every mother and her baby, and gained proof through thousands of
tiny signs of the already established relationship they had which needed not to
be created, only continued. All mothers reported of their child’s psychologi-
cal harmony, their happiness, trust, and the increased rate of their intellectual
and motor-skill development. (The maturity and the intelligence quotient of
children – well above their age level – who partook in bonding analysis have
been confirmed via measurements of the latest studies.)
Prenatal Bonding Analysis is an informative book for the average reader, for
the parent expecting and planning for a child, for those interested in psychol-
ogy, and all who are susceptible to the changes in the spiritual perspective of
our time. In the first seven chapters, Jenő Raffai and György Hidas present, via
the underlying science, in a clear manner rich in turns of phrase, the roots of
prenatal psychology as well as the technique of bonding analysis. The enthral-
ling, exciting first-hand accounts, which, as the editor of the book, I myself
recorded, can be read in the second half.
My co-authors, that is, the developers of the technique, György Hidas and
Jenő Raffai, and I feel it important to attach an explanation to the third chap-
ter, and thus allow the reader a glance into the inner workings of the process.
Initially, our intention was to have the experts explain, in commentaries at the
end of the interviews, a few potentially confounding events. However, being
in possession of the transcripts, we decided that it would be a mistake to inter-
rupt these experiences with dry, rational explanations – moreover, I should not
even obstruct the flow of erupting emotions and memories with my questions;
this would be overly pedantic, fastidious even. The arising questions thus do
not remain open, for the reader can, to an extent, find an answer in the first
chapters of the book, into which the authors have quasi pre-incorporated the
commentaries.
The content-appropriate format also revealed itself during the documenta-
tion of the interviews, which, due to the informative nature of the book, is
unusual. It turned out that these emotions and images surfacing from uncon-
scious depths take shape best in a monologue format, well-known from drama
