Search

Leading mother-infant observation seminars is often imbued with anxiety and uncertainty. While there is a significant body of literature, notably by Bick (1964), Harris & Bick (2011), Magagna (1997), Saltzberger-Wittenberg (1997) and Miller et al. (1989) , which examine the endeavour and reflect on it, interested practitioners have seldom been formally trained; this was the author's experience. The article examines the parallels between the growth and development of an effective seminar leader and the early growth and development of the human infant's parents. There is a parallel in the lack of formal preparation and the considerable anxiety evoked. The article reflects on the seminar leader's role in containing the seminar group and individual observers as each learns from the experience of grappling with primitive, unconscious feelings, including the transference to the observer and her countertransference. Bion's (1963) concept of container-contained is apposite here as are the notions of so-called 'maternal' and 'paternal' functions and the position of the psychoanalytic third. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the work of supervision of work, discussed in a group facilitated by a child psychotherapist in a Children and Families Centre in Italy. The supervisor describes the supervisory role and the usefulness of examining the transference and countertransference, in supporting the developing capacity for containment and reflection in the multidisciplinary group discussions. The paper continues with further sections written by different members of the group, including two teachers, a child psychotherapist and a social worker in which they describe their work and the understanding of it which has emerged through discussion. The region where this work takes place is generally socially deprived, with few work opportunities, quite a lot of substance abuse and intergenerational trauma. The supervisor encourages the group to look at the transference, and more especially the countertransference, and what is split off by children and adults and projected into the workers. The examination of the countertransference is seen as an important source of insight into what can be contained and understood in terms of working therapeutically with parents and children in contact meetings and in helping the Family Court to reach decisions about whether children should remain with their parents or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This double issue follows a recent trend in submissions to I Infant Observation. i A significant proportion of the published papers are linked to international conference and workshop presentations. There is something fascinating and compelling about the Bick method (Bick, [1]) as so many papers in this Journal and elsewhere attest. There are strong references to this in one paper published in this issue; a paper about "strong-enough fathers"[2] written by two Italian fathers who are also child and adolescent psychotherapists (still a relatively smaller number than their female counterparts). [Extracted from the article]

This paper describes a therapeutic intervention called 'Special Time' which is meant to give the possibility to teachers, nurses and other related professions, to offer total attention for 45 min to a child or an adolescent. There are some elements in common with child psychotherapy such as the use of a box with toys and other play materials for the allocated 'time' and the worker uses observational skills, notes her own feelings and emotions and writes an account of what happened for discussion in a group or individually with a supervisor. The worker in Special Time does not make transference interpretations but is helped to think about the possible meaning of interactions in supervision. The theoretical base is psychoanalytic, with an emphasis on containment and observation. The paper introduces the origins and potential aims of Special Time and one of its applications offered to street children in Mexico. Particular attention is given to the crucial issue of loss and separation for these children and young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an account of an infant observation cut short because the observer herself became pregnant. The author describes a deep, but fluctuating anxiety present in the infant's mother, both initially, then with a recurrence during weaning. The infant's reaction to periods of maternal misattunement is explored with reference to Daniel Stern's concept of the 'dance' between mother and infant. The importance of both maternal sensitivity and perseverance, and the baby's resilience is considered; over time the 'dance' between mother and infant could evolve and become better attuned. The probable containing function of the observation is also recognised. The effects of the observer's pregnancy on the process are discussed, illustrating both mother's and baby's response to the news, which meant the observation was cut short. The author considers her countertransference in relation to picking up projections of mother's anxiety about being a new mother. Feeding is of central importance in containing mother's own anxiety, and weaning therefore becomes a focus of increased anxiety. The paper also highlights the tension placed on the observing role, particularly the difficulties encountered in maintaining empathic neutrality in the circumstances. References to other articles on the subject are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the concept of countertransference as a clinical tool in parent-infant psychotherapy. We describe various theoretical concepts that link to countertransference and outline six parent-infant psychoanalytic psychotherapy cases from our clinical work. We explore and illustrate countertransferential processes using three common clinical categories, anxiety, depression and personality disorder. We present a model of working with the countertransference that enables the clinician to identify the position they take up in relation to the most prevalent emotion communicated by the mother and infant in the therapeutic encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating a space for more than one child is a challenge for the mother that already has other children at a pre-school age. The present case study was carried out based on a research application of the Bick method of infant observation. The baby and his family were observed weekly, for 12 months. He belonged to a family, consisting of a mother, a father and their four boys, a baby and three siblings aged two, three, and four years old. The mother gradually created a space for welcoming the observer as well as the baby. The observer′s countertransference reactions were essential and the receptiveness of the observer enabled the mother to use her for expressing her feelings albeit silently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and comments on the first three observations of a premature baby at a Neonatology Service. The vicissitudes in the encounter between infant and mother's breast are clearly observable. I also reflect upon what happens between the mother, baby, and the observer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes combining music therapy and participant observation with a group of four mothers and their children, all of whom had special needs. The quality of interaction between each mother and child is described, as well as the obstacles which hindered each pair coming together in a harmonious way. Factors affecting the mothers' receptivity are thought about in terms of projective identification and containment, along with the traumatic impact of having a child with severe difficulties. The aim of the group was to engage the mothers actively in observation and to create an environment within which the mother and child relationships could continue to develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author describes the ethical foundations of the observation method introduced by Esther Bick: a subjective and humanistic observation based on respect for individuality. The observational field includes data about the emotional situation, registered through the feeling of the observer. The analysis of material about the too-early weaning of a baby at one month is presented in two ways: the first objective, and then the felt emotional aspects, enabling the observer to understand the meaning of the events for the baby. The development of a containing function and empathy are illustrated in a brief clinical scenario from the material of an adult patient, showing the interest of infant observation for the training of analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores what it can mean to use video in psychoanalytically informed parent–infant psychotherapy (B. Beebe, 2003, Brief mother–infant treatment: Psychoanalytically informed video feedback. Infant Mental Health Journal , 24(1) 24–52). I use case material to show how the use of video helped illuminate previously unseen transference dynamics between a mother and her baby; and also the defensive processes roused in the mother since her baby's birth. I discuss the purpose of filming and describe how to work with the material that emerges whilst watching the film. I suggest a parent's super-ego is likely to be roused in the context of filming and watching (S. Freud,1923, The Ego and the Id . S.E. 19: 3–66. J. Sandler and A. M. Sandler, 1998, Internal Objects Revisited , London: Karnac). If used sensitively working with video can introduce a helpful observer position (R. Britton, 1989, The missing link: parental sexuality in the Oedipus complex. In: R. Britton, M. Feldman and E. O'Shaughnessy (eds) The Oedipus Complex Today: Clinicall Implications , London: Karnac. D. Birksted-Breen, 1996, Phallus, Penis and Mental Space, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis , 77, 649–657), a different triangular perspective from which new thoughts can emerge that, in time, might help to modify a parent's defensive responses and soften his or her punishing super-ego (J. Strachey, 1934, On the therapeutic effect of psycho-analysis, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis , 15, 127–129). For the baby, this can bring relief: for as the projected aspects of the parent are reclaimed, the baby becomes freer to be noticed as a separate being with thoughts and feelings of its own. In this way the use of video can enhance a parent's reflective functioning and mentalizing capacities (P. Fonagy, M. Steele, H. Steele, T. Leigh, R. Kennedy & G. Mattoon, 1995 Attachment, the reflective self, and borderline states: The predictive specificity of the Adult Attachment Interview and pathological emotional development, In S. Goldberg, R. Muir and J. Kerr (eds), Attachment theory: Social, developmental and clinical perspectives , pp. 233–279 (Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press). A. Slade, 2002, Keeping the Baby in Mind: A Critical Factor in Perinatal Mental Health, Zero to three Press , June/ July, l0–16). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes two events illustrating transference phenomena occurring in a longitudinal research study using laboratory-based video recording and home-based observations to explore social relationships between same-aged babies. One event concerned the mothers’ attachment to the researcher and to the project, with consequent reactions to the project's ending. The other concerned two mothers’ responses to a video recording of the interaction between their babies when their mothers were out of the room. The mothers’ comments suggested that they were reacting not only to their babies’ activities but also to infantile aspects of themselves. These events prompted the mothers to reflect on their relationships with their babies, and enabled the researcher to gain greater understanding of the psychological work required of the mothers in separating from them. Similar transference phenomena could occur in clinical situations using video. This paper suggests the value of working with patients’ transference to the video material and to the total clinical situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the learning experiences of a six-year-old girl, Lutfa, over the course of a school year. It addresses Lutfa's struggles with mastery of the processes of reading and writing. Observational material is presented from the author's own literacy support work with Lutfa, together with classroom observations. The article argues that children's literacy learning can be illuminated by considering its social and emotional context. It conceptualises a child's learning identity as simultaneously constructed within intra-personal, interpersonal and socio-historical domains. It describes an unconscious dimension to these domains and further suggests that through the process of transference, the object-world of the classroom is given a specific emotional colouring and resonance for the individual. The article develops the idea of an unconscious ‘matrix for learning’, through which a task such as literacy learning is experienced. It then explores this matrix as experienced by one child. The article concludes by reviewing the complex and subtle interplay that occurred between the intra-personal, interpersonal and socio-historical contexts of literacy learning in Lutfa's case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]