The psychic significance of the figure of the grandmother in psychodynamic psychotherapy has received scant attention. This paper develops the concept of the "grandmaternal transference" in parent-infant psychotherapy and explores its identification, its possible functions and its therapeutic significance. The grandmaternal transference has…

This article aims to demonstrate that it is not only the mind that needs to have the capacity to hold and transform, but also the body. Fordham's concept of the "primary self" emphasises the unity between the body and emotional states in infancy. The self is expressed through actions that bring the infant into contact with the mother and the…

This paper explores further the vast topic of child neuropsychiatric disorders--ADHD in particular. It refers to and expands on issues debated in an earlier paper "Ritalin for whom?". In that paper, it was argued that those who benefitted most from children taking Ritalin were parents and teachers struggling with uncontained and out-of-control…

This is an edited version of a recent interview with Annette Mendelsohn, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist at the Royal Free Hospital, London, UK. It aims to make available in published form Mendelsohn's thinking and approach in relation to her work with traumatised children in a hospital setting. Mendelsohn also discusses her work in a…

The power of new traumatic events to reignite memories and the distress of traumatic experiences earlier in life is well known to psychotherapists. When the recent trauma has been extreme, the task of assisting the patient to understand their response in the light of their earlier experience can be doubly challenging. This paper describes the…

This paper explores Freud's developing thought on brothers and sisters, and their importance in his psychoanalytical writings and clinical work. Freud's work on sibling psychology has been seriously undervalued. This paper aims to give due recognition to Freud's work in this area. (Contains 1 note.)

The concept of intersubjectivity may be used to illuminate the way in which we observe and describe many of the interpersonal processes that begin in infancy. The more traditional psychoanalytic ideas of holding and containment, as well as relatively recent concepts such as attunement and reflective function, can be seen as belonging within this…

This paper offers a way of thinking about the process of parent-infant psychotherapy. I start by outlining some ideas as to what can go awry in troubled parent-infant relationships, and then a way of working with parents with pre-verbal babies. I suggest a model for understanding three interlaced levels at which change might occur if a…

In this article we present a novel method of outpatient care: brief, dynamic mother-infant group psychotherapy with mothers who have substance use problems. In this therapy, substance abuse treatment is part of mental health and parenting interventions. The focus is on preventing disturbance in the mother-infant relationship in this high-risk…

This paper attempts to explore the nature and consequences of early trauma on the mental development of a 9-year-old boy I have called Luke. The traumatic event occurred within the context of a more chronic and ongoing trauma, which was due to the lack of receptive and containing parental figures. The combination of these two kinds of traumatic…

In this article the author discusses some of the indications for short- or long-term parent-infant psychotherapeutic interventions in terms of what he defines as "problems of parenthood" and "problems of parental narcissism". Brief parent-infant psychotherapeutic interventions are most frequently indicated in the case of the former: more neurotic…