Innovations in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy

Innovations in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy has emerged from the authors' and contributors' excitement about the proliferation of parent-infant psychotherapy work around the world. This model of parent-infant work has increasingly been taking place in community settings, adapting to the needs of emotionally deprived people such as refugees and ethnically diverse groups.Skilled workers from a variety of disciplines have benefited from psychodynamic thinking and supervision without necessarily being formally trained psychoanalytically. Innovations in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy refers here to talented clinicians - such as speech and language therapists, health visitors, specialist nurses, child psychiatrists and paediatricians, family therapists, and psychologists, etc - not just child and adult psychotherapists and psychoanalysts.This book coincides with a global consciousness about the necessity to take care of the early years in order to create good outcomes for all young children, to reduce inequalities, and provide more cohesive and accessible early childhood services.

Table of Contents:
ContentsIntroduction Maria Pozzi and Beverley Tydeman 1 Therapeutic consultation: early detection of "alarm symptoms" in infants and treatment with parent-infant psychotherapy by Romana Negri2 Echoes from overseas: Brazilian experiences in psychoanalytic observation, its developments and therapeutic interventions with parents and small children by Marisa Pelella Melega and Mariangela Mendes de Almeida3 Multidisciplinary early intervention with infants and young children presenting emotional, physical and speech difficulties by C Bernasconi, D Gilardoni, Maria Pozzi and M.L Terragni4 Mother-father-infant brief psychodynamic psychotherapy: clinical and technical aspects by Francisco Palacio-Espasa and Dora Knauer5 The role of the infant in the parent-child psychotherapies by Annette Watillon-Naveau6 Looking at the symptom as a starting point for understanding by Pamela B. Sorensen7 Transformational process in parent-infant psychotherapy: provision in community drop-in groups by Judith Woodhead and Jessica James8 Babies in groups: the creative roles of the babies, the mothers and the therapists by Campbell Paul and Frances Thomson Salo9 Parent-Infant Psychotherapy: when feelings of futility are prevalent by Amanda Jones10 The Health Visitor's role in promoting emotional well being in families by Maggie Harris11 "It wasn't meant to happen like this": the complexity of mourning great expectations by Lynne Cudmore12 Ten Years of parent-infant psychotherapy in a township in South Africa. What have we learnt? By Astrid Berg13 Intervention in parent-infant psychotherapy in Japan:the infant reveals family Trauma by Hisako Watanabe

About the Author :
Maria Pozzi trained as a child and adolescent psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic, and as an adult psychotherapist at the British Association of Psychotherapists. She has special interests in treating children with autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and mental handicap and in brief work with children under five and their families. Her publications include 'Psychic Hooks and Bolts', published by Karnac (2003), and 'I Disagi dei Bambini', published by Bruno Mondadori (2004), as well as papers and book chapters on various topics. She was the winner of Frances Tustin Memorial Prize in 1999. Beverley Tydeman is a consultant child and adolescent psychotherapist working in London at the Marlborough Family Service, where her clinical work is focused mainly on Infant Mental Health and on parenting assessments for court, which often involves being an expert witness in court. She is also a member of staff at the Tavistock Clinic, where she is involved in teaching those from varied disciplines the principles of therapeutic communication with children, thus contributing to the professional development of the generic mental health work force.

Review :
'This book presents the remarkable project of parent-infant psychotherapy as developed in individual initiatives around the world. The contributors include experienced and distinguished practitioners who have pioneered treatment programmes uniquely suited to their locality and its culture. They explain their theoretical models lucidly and provide lively and poignant case accounts. The reader is introduced to an array of small children and their families from contexts as diverse as Sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, Australia the US, UK, Brazil, Italy and Switzerland. It is fascinating to note how eloquently children and parents worldwide express their emotional lives and respond to reflective work. The book is a rich clinical and theoretical resource to anyone working with, or interested in the early years. Innovations in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy is also and excellent academic resource for courses on the early years.' - Dr. Meira Likierman, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, member of the Infant Mental Health Team, Tavistock Clinic London.'This book describes an amazing variety of innovative interventions with babies and their parents across several continents. The contributors are to be commended for their creativity in applying psychoanalysis in such unusual settings and to such evident effect. Psychoanalytic approaches to infant mental health services are now truly established in the international canon of so called early interventions.'- Angela Joyce, Fellow of the Institute of Psychoanalysis in London; Parent-Infant Psychotherapist at the Anna Freud centre