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Treating infants and mothers in psychic distress: A mental health program for infancy
Author(s) -
Cordeiro Maria
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0355(199722)18:2<145::aid-imhj4>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - mental health , multidisciplinary approach , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , infant mental health , medicine , population , psychology , psychodynamics , unit (ring theory) , socioeconomic status , distress , psychiatry , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , social science , mathematics education , environmental health , sociology
Our purpose is to outline a program of mental health for mothers and infantsup to the age of 3. The theoretical background of the program refers to thepsychoanalytical genetic point of view developed by French and Americanauthors. The therapeutic objectives consist of promoting the infant'sself‐development and the mother's reflective self‐capacity toimprove the infant's resiliency. These objectives aim to have preventivepurposes. The program has clinical, research and training activitiesand a multidisciplinary staff. The clinical population is referred bymedical services, from families with a middle‐low socioeconomic status.With the data collected during the assessment phase, we establish a diagnosisbased on a psychodynamic analysis of the pathological process and theevaluation of the risk and protective factors. Our multidisciplinaryapproach combines individual therapeutic modalities focused on mothers,child or mother‐child relationship, with family interventionsin our Unit or in the community. An evaluation of our intervention basedon Parent‐Infant Relationship‐Global Assessment Scale(PIR‐GAS) is presented. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health