"Whatever the stresses and whenever it strikes, the "womb-distressed" person,
Lake writes, "complains as if it remembered the bad times it had
been through. It reacts to the world around it as if it were still
in the bad place, still having to 'feel its keenest woe.'
It reacts defensively as if the attack were still going on."
-- from chapter 2 of Dr. Maret's dissertation

British psychiatrist, Frank Lake (1914-1982) believed that the first trimester of embryonal development was the most important part of one's life.

He wrote, "The focus for psychopathology is now, for us, the first trimester of intra-uterine life. These first three months after conception hold more ups and downs, more ecstasies and devastations that we had ever imagined."

In this chapter Dr. Maret discusses how Lake developed the M-FDS model, the research involved, the various components of the paradigm, and the six ways the syndrome manifests itself in psychiatric symptomatology.

-- John A. Speyrer, Webmeister, The Primal Psychotherapy Page

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Chapter II

A. A DEFINITION OF THE PARADIGM

B. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARADIGM 1. The Womb of the Spirit

2. Birth 3. The Prenatal Period 4. The First Trimester

C. The RESEARCH LEADING TO THE PARADIGM 1. LSD Research 2. The Lingdale Workshops 3. Primal Integration Workshops

D. THE COMPONENTS OF THE PARADIGM 1. The Manifestations of "Umbilical Affect" a. Positive b. Negative c. Strongly Negative 2. The Graded Levels of Fetal Response a. Ideal b. Coping c. Opposition d. Transmarginal Stress

E. THE EFFECTS OF THE PARADIGM 1. The Anxiety-Depression Reaction 2. The Hysterical Reaction 3. The Schizoid Reaction 4. The Paranoid Reaction 5. The Depressive Reaction 6. The Psychosomatic Reaction

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Stephen M. Maret has authored a book comprised of material from his dissertation entitled, The Prenatal Person: Frank Lake's Maternal-Fetal Distress Syndrome. University Press of America: Lanham, MD. ISBN: 0-7618-2501-0. Primary Frank Lake Sources Cited Secondary Sources

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Read On the Primal Psychotherapy Page A review of Professor Maret's dissertation on Lake's M-FDS. An article about the Origins of the Fears of Death and Dying in the writings of Frank Lake. Lake's article on Birth Trauma, Claustrophobia and LSD Therapy.

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