EXPANDING INFANT MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT SERVICES TO AT‐RISK PRESCHOOLERS AND THEIR FAMILIES THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF RELATIONAL PLAY THERAPY

The expansion of infant mental health (IMH) to at‐risk preschoolers and their families has contributed to the integration of relational play therapy (RPT) into IMH treatment services for this population. Integrating RPT allows access to specialized play and expressive techniques specific to preschool and family development, which improves the clinical ability to meet the multiple and complex needs of at‐risk parent–child dyads and their families. This article will examine the RPT literature and explore the similarities and differences between IMH and RPT. In addition, two case studies will highlight a five‐phase, integrative clinical‐treatment process and provide insight into how IMH clinicians are integrating RPT models and maintaining adherence to the IMH treatment approach.     

Children's and Parents’ Well‐Being in Joint Physical Custody: A Literature Review

Joint physical custody (JPC), a parental care arrangement in which a child lives with each parent for at least 25–50% of the time after separation or divorce, is increasingly common in many Western societies. This is a major shift from the standard of sole physical custody, with mostly mothers providing primary childcare after a parental separation or divorce. The increasing share of separated or divorced parents who practice JPC, which in some countries, US states, and regions reaches 30% and more, results from increasing gender equality due to mothers participating considerably in the labor force and fathers being actively involved in their children's daily lives. This review focuses on the effects of JPC on children's and parents’ well‐being, based on 40 studies from North America, Australia, and Europe published between 2007 and 2018. In sum, there is empirical evidence from different countries that suggests that JPC arrangements can have positive effects on the well‐being of children and of parents. However, the existing studies are conceptually, methodologically, and contextually very heterogeneous. In addition, self‐selected highly educated parents with a high socio‐economic status, a low conflict level, and children between the ages of 6–15 practicing JPC dominate the samples. Thus, the risks and benefits of JPC are not clear yet and are heavily debated by advocates and academics. The review concludes with suggestions for future research.     

Associations between prenatal substance exposure,prenatal violence victimization,unintended pregnancy,and trauma exposure in childhood in a clinical setting

Given the importance of early prevention and intervention strategies for children exposed to trauma, detection of early risk factors for exposure to traumatic events in childhood is critical. The present study examined associations between three known prenatal risk factors that characterize environmental instability in utero—prenatal substance exposure, prenatal violence victimization, and unintended pregnancy—and child exposure to interparental violence and other adverse experiences in a sample of 198 mother–child dyads (M child age = 44.48 months) referred to a hospital clinic for treatment following exposure to trauma. Prenatal substance and violence exposure were associated with child trauma exposure, and prenatal violence victimization was also associated with maternal severity ratings of traumatic exposures. Unintended pregnancy was not associated with child trauma exposure or severity. These findings expand our understanding of prenatal risk factors for trauma exposure in childhood and, specifically, highlight prenatal substance exposure and violence victimization as risk factors for subsequent exposure to trauma in early childhood. Results suggest that prenatal prevention and intervention programs should target reducing maternal substance use and in-utero exposure to violence.     

Variaciones tonales en el habla a los niños y adquisición del lenguaje

Resumen

El habla dirigida a los niños y la que se dirige a los adultos difieren sistemáticamente en varios aspectos que son identificables. La investigación que presentamos tiene por objeto verificar dichas variaciones en los rasgos tonales del habla dirigida a los niños. Se recogieron muestras de lenguaje de 30 madres y sus hijos de entre 2 y 4 años, así como de otras 30 mujeres, a las que los niños conocían, en interacción diádica espontánea. Se midieron cuatro parámetros del habla adulta, todos ellos relacionados con el tono de las emisiones: la frecuencia fundamental media, el rango de frecuencia, la frecuencia máxima y la frecuencia mínima. Los resultados muestran valores significativamente más altos en el habla a los niños que en el habla a los adultos en tres parámetros y no indican variación en el cuarto. Las diferencias tendían a reducirse a medida que los niños eran mayores, pero seguían siendo significativas para el grupo de niños de 4 años. Las madres no diferían en el tono de habla a los niños de las otras mujeres que no eran las madres en ninguno de los parámetros. Ofrecemos una interpretación pragmática evolutiva de la incidencia del input en la adquisición del lenguaje infantil que enfatiza el papel de la interacción madre-niño en el aprendizaje del lenguaje por parte del niño y en su acceso al mundo social.     

Two Jungs. Apropos a paper by Mark Saban

Jung's idea of the ‘personal equation’ amounts to the reflection that theoretical differences between the psychologies that people teach are rooted in their personalities, in other words, that they are due to the psychology each one ‘has’. This concept also applies to different interpretations of Jung's work. The serious difficulties that Mark Saban has with my psychology are a case in point. Recourse to the concept of the personal equation reveals that Saban has his Jung and I have mine. With his insistence on his Talmudic methodological principle of dream interpretation, that ‘the dream is its own interpretation’, according to Saban Jung means nothing but a rejection of Freudian free association. My Jung goes far beyond that. Jung understands this methodological principle above all in terms of what he calls ‘circumambulation’. The main part of this paper is devoted to an elucidation of what circumambulation involves as a mode of dream interpretation. The paper concludes with the distinction Jung himself introduced between two types of reading of his work, either as ‘paper’ and ‘dead nostrums’ or as ‘fire and wind’, and pleads for a reconstruction of Jung's psychology as a whole in terms of his most advanced, deepest insights, instead of a dogmatic reading mainly based on the early Jung, a reading for which his later revolutionary insights are at best negligible embellishments.     

Relationships,Environment, and the Brain: How Emerging Research is Changing What We Know about the Impact of Families on Human Development

Recent research is providing family therapists with new information about the complex interaction between an individual's biological makeup and his/her social and physical environment. Family and social relationships, particularly during sensitive periods early in life, can affect a child's biological foundation. Additionally, stress during the early years can have a lasting effect on an individual's physical and mental health and contribute to the onset of severe mental illness. Community programs have been developed to intervene early with families who have an at‐risk child to prevent or minimize the onset of mental illness including providing partnerships with at‐risk mothers of infants to shape attachment relationships. Programs are also developing individual and family interventions to prevent the onset of psychosis. Practicing family therapists can incorporate emerging neuroscience and early intervention research and leverage the growing base of community programs to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of mental health outcomes for clients. Additionally, family therapy education programs should broaden student training to incorporate the growing body of information about how family relationships affect individual mental health development.     

Political and clinical developments in analytical psychology, 1972‐2014: subjectivity,equality and diversity—inside and outside the consulting room

Utilizing Jung's idea of theory as a ‘personal confession’, the author charts his own development as a theorist, establishing links between his personal history and his ideas. Such links include his relationship with both parents, his sexuality, his cultural heritage, and his fascination with Tricksters and with Hermes. There follows a substantial critical interrogation of what the author discerns as the two main lines of clinical theorizing in contemporary analytical psychotherapy: interpretation of transference‐countertransference, and the relational approach. His conclusion is that neither is superior to the other and neither is in fact adequate as a basis for clinical work. The focus then shifts to explore a range of political and social aspects of the clinical project of analytical psychology: economic inequality, diversity within the professional field, and Jung's controversial ideas about Jews and Africans. The author calls for an apology from the ‘Jungian community’ for remarks about Africans analogous to the apology already issued for remarks about Jews. The paper is dedicated to the author's friend Fred Plaut (1913‐2009).     

Work Experiences of Foreign‐Born Asian Women Counseling and Psychology Faculty

Eleven foreign‐born and ‐raised Asian women faculty in counseling and psychology programs in the United States were interviewed about their work experiences. Analysis using consensual qualitative research revealed 7 sources of stressors, 6 emotional reactions associated with stressors, 5 coping strategies, and 4 types of intrinsic rewards gained from encountering challenges. The results of the study provide information about the unique experiences of this understudied group and have implications for the U.S. higher education system. Se entrevistó a once profesoras universitarias asiáticas de programas de consejería y psicología en Estados Unidos nacidas y criadas en el extranjero acerca de sus experiencias de trabajo. Un análisis basado en investigación cualitativa consensuada reveló 7 fuentes de estrés, 6 reacciones emocionales asociadas a los motivos del estrés, 5 estrategias de afrontamiento y 4 tipos de recompensa intrínseca ganada por afrontar los desafíos. Los resultados del estudio proporcionan información sobre las experiencias únicas de este grupo que no ha sido estudiado suficientemente, y tienen implicaciones para el sistema de educación superior en Estados Unidos.     

Barriers to Mental Health Care: A 25‐Year Follow‐Up Study of the Orthodox Jewish Community

The current study is a 25‐year follow‐up to a mental health needs assessment in the often overlooked, but rapidly growing, Orthodox Jewish denomination. Results suggest increased acceptance of mental illness and its treatment and satisfaction with quality of care, along with decreased mistrust of the mental health field, belief that religion and psychiatry conflict, and tendency to attach stigmas to psychiatric problems. However, issues of stigma and affordability continue to be obstacles to treatment. El presente estudio es un seguimiento tras 25 años de una evaluación de necesidades de salud mental en la población frecuentemente ignorada, pero en crecimiento rápido, de individuos de denominación judía ortodoxa. Los resultados sugieren una mayor aceptación de enfermedades mentales y sus tratamientos, así como la satisfacción con la calidad de los cuidados, además de una reducción en la desconfianza hacia el campo de la salud mental, la creencia de que existe un conflicto entre religión y psiquiatría, y la tendencia a estigmatizar los problemas psiquiátricos. Sin embargo, problemas relacionados con la asequibilidad y el estigma continúan siendo obstáculos para el tratamiento.