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Watch, wait, and wonder: Testing the effectiveness of a new approach to mother–infant psychotherapy
Author(s) -
Cohen Nancy J.,
Muir Elisabeth,
Lojkasek Mirek,
Muir Roy,
Parker Carol Jane,
Barwick Melanie,
Brown Myrna
Publication year - 1999
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(199924)20:4<429::aid-imhj5>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - intrusiveness , psychological intervention , psychology , infant mental health , competence (human resources) , wonder , perception , child psychotherapy , mental health , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , developmental psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , neuroscience
This research compared two forms of psychodynamic psychotherapeutic interventions for 67 clinically referred infants and their mothers. One was an infant‐led psychotherapy delivered through a program called Watch, Wait, and Wonder (WWW). The other was a mother–infant psychotherapy (PPT). Infants ranged in age from 10 to 30 months at the outset of treatment, which took place in weekly sessions over approximately 5 months. A broad range of measures of attachment, qualities of the mother–infant relationship, maternal perception of parenting stress, parenting competence and satisfaction, depression, and infant cognition and emotion regulation were used. The WWW group showed a greater shift toward a more organized or secure attachment relationship and a greater improvement in cognitive development and emotion regulation than infants in the PPT group. Moreover, mothers in the WWW group reported a larger increase in parenting satisfaction and competence and decrease in depression compared to mothers receiving PPT. Both WWW and PPT were successful in reducing infant ‐presenting problems, decreasing parenting stress, and reducing maternal intrusiveness and mother–infant conflict. Some potential reasons for the differential treatment effects and the theoretical, clinical, and methodological implications from the findings are discussed. ©1999 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.