Working With Fathers in Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy

Working With Fathers in Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy interfaces theoretical ideas about fatherhood and their incorporation into the clinical practice of psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy. Often, when a family attends parent-infant psychotherapy, issues of the father are eclipsed by attention to the mother, who is usually the identified patient. Until now relatively neglected in the literature, this book attends to both the barriers to psychological work with the father, and to ways in which he can be engaged in a therapeutic process. In this book, Tessa Baradon brings together some of the most eminent clinicians and academics in the field of parent-infant psychotherapy, in a layered collection of theoretical and clinical contributions. She and her co-discussants, Björn Salomonsson and Kai von Klitzing, conclude with an integration and critique of the themes presented, exploring the ideas of their fellow contributors and expanding on the central themes of the work. Working With Fathers in Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy will be of interest to mental health practitioners working with infants, who will learn that each individual and the family as a system can benefit from such an inclusive approach.

Table of Contents:
Dedication Editor and Contributor Biographies PREFACE, Tessa Baradon Acknowledgements A JOURNEY INTO FATHERHOOD: THE ART OF FAILING GRACEFULLY Dickon Bevington THE ROLE OF FATHERS IN EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT Kai von Klitzing "THE DOOR IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD": A FATHER’S FAILURE TO MOURN THE DEATHS OF HIS PARENTS Angela Joyce WAKING DADDY UP: RESTORING A FATHER’S PLACE IN A BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER COUPLE Alejandra Perez WHEN WORKING THERAPEUTICALLY WITH A BABY’S FATHER IS NOT POSSIBLE Amanda Jones PATERNAL ORIENTATIONS AND THE ART OF BEING A FATHER Joan Raphael-Leff WORKING WITH THE TRIAD Tessa Baradon THE MALE THERAPIST IN PARENT-INFANT PSYCHOTHERAPY Abel Fagin THE THERAPIST AND THE FATHER IN PARENT-INFANT PSYCHOTHERAPY Yael Segal WORKING WITH COUPLES AS PARENTS AND PARENTS AS COUPLES Louise Emanuel CAN THE DIFFICULTIES OF CARRYING OUT THE PATERNAL FUNCTION FOR A TODDLER BE IDENTIFIED FROM THE EARLIEST MONTHS OF A BABY’S LIFE? Marie-Christine Laznik FREUD ON FATHERS: WHO CARES? Björn Salomonsson THREE THEMES ABOUT FATHERS IN PARENT-INFANT PSYCHOTHERAPY Björn Salomonsson, Tessa Baradon and Kai von Klitzing AND WHAT ABOUT MOTHERS? Tessa Baradon Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Tessa Baradon initiated the Parent Infant Project at the Anna Freud Centre and leads on the training in psychoanalytic parent infant psychotherapy at the Centre. She is Adjunct Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, School of Human and Community Development, and consults on parent-infant psychotherapy service development and training in different settings. She writes and lectures on applied psychoanalysis and parent-infant psychotherapy.

Review :
"Each baby finds itself in a triad, developing relationships to a father and a mother, regardless if they are present or absent. Roles and representations of mother and fatherhood and real interactions with parental figures shape the developmental world of babies. Each psychoanalytically active person carries representations of father, mother and the family triad in their mind, influencing their work. A foursome, including the therapist as an ‘outsider within’, characterizes psychoanalytic parent-infant-psychotherapy. This wonderful volume, featuring contributions from very experienced authors, opens-up the mind of all protagonists during psychoanalytic processes with families and transmits fresh views and models of integration of maternal and paternal functions." - Prof. em. Dr. med. Dieter Bürgin, Traininganalyst of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society "Each baby finds itself in a triad, developing relationships to a father and a mother, regardless of if they are present or absent. Roles and representations of mother and fatherhood and real interactions with parental figures shape the developmental world of babies. Each psychoanalytically active person carries representations of father, mother and the family triad in their mind, influencing their work. A foursome, including the therapist as an ‘outsider within’, characterizes psychoanalytic parent-infant-psychotherapy. This wonderful volume, featuring contributions from very experienced authors, opens up the mind of all protagonists during psychoanalytic processes with families and transmits fresh views and models of integration of maternal and paternal functions." - Prof. em. Dr. med. Dieter Bürgin, training analyst of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society "A book every clinician and developmental researcher should read. This volume fills a surprisingly neglected gap in our knowledge and literature and does so in a thoughtfully clear manner. Integrating findings from many domains, the authors show us that fathers bring developmentally unique caring to their children." - Linda Mayes, MD, Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology in the Yale Child Study Center; Chair, Yale Child Study Center; Special Advisor, Dean, Yale School of Medicine