Uncovering the Mind-Body Connection of Touch
Uncovering the Mind-Body Connection of Touch
Inspired by her work at an orphanage in Romania, Dr. Katalin Gothard aims to understand how the brain interprets the social, emotional and physical aspects of touch.
Brittany Uhlorn
Today
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Media contact(s)Brittany Uhlorn
BIO5 Institutebforte2012@bio5.org214-783-7397
Researcher contact(s)Katalin Gothard
Department of Physiologykgothard@email.arizona.eduHumans are born with the language of touch, and physical connection is essential to our development, growth and survival throughout life.An infant requires the protective embrace of a parent or caretaker to fully develop, learn trust, and make connections. University of Arizona researcher Dr. Katalin Gothard, born and trained as a medical doctor in Romania, interacted with infants who lacked that physical connection while training at an orphanage during her pediatric clerkship. Due to dictatorial policies in Romania, many orphanages were bursting with unwanted babies while suffering from lack of funds and staff. Because of scarce resources and the goal to keep the children alive, workers prioritized medical needs like preventing malnutrition and infection.Gothard-head-shot-web.jpg
Dr. Katalin GothardThough she and the staff did their best to keep the children physically healthy, Gothard didn ' t fully understand the impact that the lack of touch would have on the orphans until she began to study the mind-body connectio...
Source: The University of Arizona: Health - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: mittank Source Type: research
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