Psychotherapy groups and individual support to enhance mental health and early dyadic interaction among drug‐abusing mothers

The purpose of this controlled study was to examine the outcome of psychodynamic mother–infant group psychotherapy (PGT) outpatient intervention for drug‐abusing perinatal mother–infant dyads. PGT comprised 20 to 24 weekly 3‐hr sessions with 3 to 5 months of follow‐up. A comparison intervention group was formed of mothers participating in individually tailored psychosocial support (PSS) lasting, on average, 12 months and providing mother–infant support and practical counseling. We hypothesized that positive changes would occur in maternal drug abuse, mental health, and mother–infant interaction, especially in the PGT group due to its more intensive therapeutic focus. Participants were 26 drug‐abusing dyads in PGT, 25 in PSS, and 50 dyads in a non‐drug‐abusing comparison group. Assessments were pre‐intervention and at 4 and 12 months' follow‐up, including maternal depressive symptoms and mother–child interaction assessed by the Emotional Availability Scales (EA). As hypothesized, in dyadic interaction maternal hostility decreased significantly in the PGT group, and intrusiveness decreased in both intervention groups, but especially in the PTG group. However, both interventions showed a general improvement in the quality of mother–infant interaction. They also succeeded in sustaining high maternal abstinence, treatment retention, and alleviating depressive symptoms. The findings are discussed in relation to preventing negative transgenerational interaction patterns in the high‐risk dyads.     

APPARENT PROPERTIES OF INSPECTION FIGURES AS DETERMINERS OF FIGURAL AFTER-EFFECTS

Figural after-effects (FAE) were studied using the Hering, the Ehrenstein, and the Orbisson illusion, patterns in two ways. In one condition, the total pattern was used as inspection figure (IF), and that part of the pattern in which the illusion normally appears, as test figure (TF). The resulting FAE was in a direction opposite to that of the illusion. In the second condition, the illusion producing part of the total pattern served as IF, and the illusion suffering part as TF. This produced an after-effect, the direction of which was the same as that of the illusion.