Main description:

This book has emerged from the authors' excitement about the proliferation of parent-infant psychotherapy work around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Europe, South Africa and the United States. It shows how the therapy connects with the culture of the family inspired by the wider community.

Contents:

Foreword -- Summary -- Introduction -- Looking at the symptoms as a starting point for understanding -- Echoes from overseas: Brazilian experiences in psychoanalytic observation, its developments, and therapeutic interventions with parents and small children -- Multidisciplinary early intervention with infants and young children presenting emotional, physical, and speech difficulties -- Brief mother-father-infant psychodynamic psychotherapy: clinical and technical aspects -- The role of the infant in parent-child psychotherapies -- Therapeutic consultation: early detection of "alarm symptoms" in infants and treatment with parent-infant psychotherapy -- Transformational process in parent-infant psychotherapy: provision in community drop-in groups -- Babies in groups: the creative roles of the babies, the mothers, and the therapists -- Parent-infant psychotherapy: when feelings of futility are prevalent -- The health visitor's role in promoting well being in families -- "It wasn't meant to happen like this": the complexity of mourning great expectations -- Ten years of parent-infant psychotherapy in a township in South Africa. What have we learnt? -- Innovation in parent-infant psychotherapy in Japan: the infant reveals family trauma