THERAPISTS’ EXPERIENCES OF MOTHER–INFANT PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

As part of a larger research project in Sweden, a qualitative study investigated psychotherapists’ experiences of mother–infant psychoanalysis (MIP). A randomized controlled trial compared two groups of mother–infant dyads with psychological problems. One had received Child Health Center care, and the other received MIP. Previous articles on long‐term effects have found that mothers who had received MIP were less depressed throughout a posttreatment period of 3½ years, and their children showed better global functioning and psychological well‐being. The present study's objectives were to describe the therapist's experiences of MIP and deepen the understanding of the MIP process. Six months after treatment began, all therapists were interviewed. Transcribed interviews with therapists from 10 (of 33 total) MIP treatments were randomly selected and analyzed in detail by thematic analysis. Therapists worked successfully with mother and infant together and found different ways of cooperation during MIP sessions. Therapists reported overall positive experiences; however, in cases where mothers needed more personal attention, it would be important to adapt the method to them.     

The effect of a short course of moderate pressure sunflower oil massage on the weight gain velocity and length of NICU stay in preterm infants

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of five-day course of sunflower oil massage with moderate pressure on the weight gain and length of NICU stay in preterm infants.MethodsForty-four healthy preterm infants with a corrected gestational age of 30–36 weeks at the time of the study, were randomly assigned to the study group receiving body massage with sunflower oil and the control group receiving only routine NICU care. The massage was performed three times per day, each session including three consecutive five-minute stages, for five days. The primary outcome was to evaluate the efficacy of a short course of moderate pressure sunflower oil massage on the weight gain velocity. The secondary outcome was to compare the length of NICU stay between the two groups.ResultsDuring the study period, the increase in the average daily and fifth-day weight gain was significant in the intervention group. The length of NICU stay was shorter in the intervention group significantly.ConclusionOur findings suggest that even a short course of body massage with sunflower oil for only five days increases preterm infants’ weight gain and decreases their duration of NICU stay significantly.     

Infants Anticipate Others' Social Preferences

In the current eye‐tracking study, we explored whether 12‐month‐old infants can predict others' social preferences. We showed infants scenes in which two characters alternately helped or hindered an agent in his goal of climbing a hill. In a control condition, the two characters moved up and down the hill in identical ways to the helper and hinderer but did not make contact with the agent; thus, they did not cause him to reach or not reach his goal. Following six alternating familiarization trials of helping and hindering interactions (help–hinder condition) or up and down interactions (up–down condition), infants were shown one test trial in which they could visually anticipate the agent approaching one of the two characters. As predicted, infants in the help–hinder condition made significantly more visual anticipations toward the helping than hindering character, suggesting that they predicted the agent to approach the helping character. In contrast, infants revealed no difference in visual anticipations between the up and down characters. The up–down condition served to control for low‐level perceptual explanations of the results for the help–hinder condition. Thus, together the results reveal that 12‐month‐old infants make predictions about others' behaviour and social preferences from a third‐party perspective. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parent‐infant‐psychotherapy and psychoanalytic treatment: contradiction or mutual inspiration?

Psychoanalysis and parent‐infant‐psychotherapy are compared. Although parent‐infant‐psychotherapy developed from psychoanalysis, it appears at first glance not to be “analytic” with its aim of dealing quickly with the symptoms presented and also with its different setting. The author shows that an analytic approach in understanding the multi‐facetted net of relationships between family members and the infant in its “phantasmic interaction” and a consideration of the implication for analysis of the empirical research carried out in conjunction with parent‐infant‐therapy can lead to a fruitful exchange of ideas. One example of this is research into the correlation between attachment patterns and the processing of conflicts. Furthermore a dialogue between these two disciplines can remind psychoanalysts that a critical discussion of the external circumstances of their methods does not immediately call into question their fundamental approach to therapy: the work in transference on relationship fantasies.     

Coparenting Negotiation During the Transition to Parenthood: A Qualitative Study of Couples’ Experiences as New Parents

Abstract

Coparenting – how couples relate to one another in their joint roles as parents – is predictive of a wide variety of family and child outcomes. The current study used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to understand how couples negotiate the coparenting relationship during the transition to parenthood. The principal researcher interviewed 16 men and women of eight heterosexual, dual-earning, new parent couples. Themes emerged which were both conducive to successful coparenting and inhibitive of successful coparenting. Gender distinctions emerged between men and woman in their experiences of coparenting negotiation. Clinical implications of the themes are discussed.     

The Effect of Posture on Early Reaching Movements

Infants of about 5 months of age who have just mastered the ability to reach succeed more frequently in contacting an object when they are seated upright than when they are supine or reclined. That effect of posture disappears in the subsequent months. Whether that effect can be attributed either to insufficient muscular strength or to insufficient control over the mechanically unstable arm was the subject of the present investigation. Kinematics and electromyography (EMG) of reaching movements of 8 sitting and supine infants at 12, 16, and 20 weeks of age were recorded. Maximum levels of shoulder torque as well as kinematic stability measures were similar in both postures. Coactivation levels and the frequency of on-off switching of muscles turned out to be higher in the sitting than in the supine posture. The authors suggest that the difference in reaching behavior resulted from the degree of error in the feedforward control signal that was allowed by the different postures rather than either insufficient muscular strength or insufficient control over the mechanically unstable arm.     

Infant Expressions in an Approach/Withdrawal Framework

Since the introduction of empirical methods for studying facial expression, the interpretation of infant facial expressions has generated much debate. The premise of this article is that action tendencies of approach and withdrawal constitute a core organizational feature of emotion in humans, promoting coherence of behavior, facial signaling, and physiological responses. The approach/withdrawal framework can provide a taxonomy of contexts and the neurobehavioral framework for the systematic, empirical study of individual differences in expression, physiology, and behavior within individuals as well as across contexts over time. By adopting this framework in developmental work on basic emotion processes, it may be possible to better understand the behavioral principles governing facial displays, and how individual differences in them are related to physiology and behavioral function in context.     

Transferences in parent–infant psychoanalytic treatments

In parent–infant treatments, babies sometimes exhibit symptoms such as screaming, clinging, and fearful gaze avoidance of the analyst. The paper investigates if such phenomena may be regarded as transference manifestations, and if so, if they appear both in younger and older infants. Based on three case presentations, it is concluded that some babies are capable of forming both brief and enduring transferences. The term “indirect infant transference” refers to when a baby reacts emotionally to the analyst as long as the parent's transference remains unresolved. “Direct transference” refers to when a baby reacts in a non‐mediated way to the analyst. The necessary tool of investigation for discovering these phenomena is a psychoanalytic method with an explicit, though not exclusive, focus on the baby. Discerning them in the clinical encounter may help us understand the baby's predicament and when and how to address the baby or the parent. These treatments constitute an empirical field awaiting more extensive clinical and theoretical investigation. Already now, they suggest that transference may be rooted in, and may appear during, very early developmental stages. The paper's positions are compared with those put forward by other parent‐infant clinicians.