Psychologist Sambursky denied the existence of maternal instinct

The existence of a “maternal instinct” is explained by sociocultural factors, said clinical psychologist Stanislav Sambursky. He explained “Gazete.Ru”that it is impossible to love a person just because you have just given birth to him.

The expert called the instinct, implying incredible and unconditional love for a child, a myth. Women really sometimes think that they fell in love with a child as soon as they took it in their hands.

In fact, the hormone oxytocin is to blame for everything, in which the mother and baby literally “bathe”.

“This is a hormone that is responsible for feelings of tenderness and affection and is actively produced after childbirth to help the body cope with postpartum pain,” Sambursky explained. Love does not appear immediately after the birth of a child, it is cultivated gradually, which is absolutely normal.

Sambursky explained the prejudice of the excitement of young mothers who go to psychotherapists complaining of a lack of love for children. Actually there is no problem. Those who say that they immediately fell in love with their child wishful thinking. They are touched by the baby in the cradle, but this has nothing to do with love.

The expert explained that the evolutionary mechanism invented by nature for caring for offspring implies tenderness and tenderness, but definitely not love.

He gave an example as an argument. In some countries, mothers are willing to sell their daughters as wives from the age of 10. If the maternal instinct existed, hundreds of thousands of women would not have gone to such monstrous cruelty.

“The maternal instinct is a cultural feature of every nation, which is “seasoned” with evolutionary features in the form of care and protection of offspring,” summed up Stanislav Sambursky.

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