Premium
Therapeutic moments are the key: foster children give clues to their past experience of infant trauma and neglect
Author(s) -
Brown Judith M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6427.2012.00606.x
Subject(s) - neglect , dialogical self , silence , psychology , context (archaeology) , child neglect , conversation , developmental psychology , foster care , psychotherapist , child abuse , social psychology , suicide prevention , medicine , poison control , communication , psychiatry , history , nursing , medical emergency , philosophy , archaeology , aesthetics
Foster parents often despair over the lack of information about the past experience of the children in their care, particularly with children who have experienced infant trauma and neglect. In the context of family therapy these unknowns pose both a challenge and an opportunity. The author proposes that foster children gives clues to their past experiences in therapeutic moments, which the therapist may recognize as a result of her own inner conversation. In conjunction with a sound theoretical knowledge of infant trauma and neglect, these moments have the capacity to open a dialogue in the relationships between therapist, child and foster family. This dialogical process offers an opportunity for the child's past experience of infant trauma and neglect to be expressed in silence, and the foster parent's present experience to be heard in stillness, opening for them a way to go on beyond the family therapy sessions.