Neurological and physiological correlates of maternal deprivation

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Developmental Psychology: Cognitive development · Development of the self · Emotional development · Language development · Moral development · Perceptual development · Personality development · Psychosocial development · Social development · Developmental measures

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Very early emotional deprivation of a profound sort ("primary privation") appears to destabilize hypothalamic systems and cause a basic autonomic/metabolic collapse, although this is not well understood and is generally termed "failure to thrive". I am looking for recent research on maternal deprivation in relation to twins, in which one twin is treated well and thrives and the other is neglected and fails to thrive. There seems to be a psychological split in the treatment of each child. One is deemed 'good' and the other 'bad/evil'. There have also been reports in the press in the past two years of two separate cases in which twins have been treated in this way by mother/father. One of the twins in one case has been presented to social workers as the 'other' in order to cover up the evidence of bruising/assault of the child. In a more recent case a twin was discovered dead in an attic room. The child had been subjected to extreme neglect and deprivation whilst the other was living healthily with the rest of the family 'downstairs'. I wondered if there is any published material on this phenomenon?

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