Dr Anne Ward is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, and leads the trust-wide perinatal psychotherapy service. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Psychoanalysis
Dr Danny Goldberger is a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with a specialist interest in the perinatal period. He has worked in SLAM’s perinatal psychotherapy service and Surrey’s Parent-Infant Mental Health Service. In the past, he has also established a Children’s Centre based under 5s service in South London.
Synopsis:
Winnicott and Bion offer distinct but related models for infant development as crucially sustained by the mother-infant relationship. The use of this relationship is illustrated clinically and movingly in Fraiberg’s paper, the first significant contribution to the parent-infant therapy literature. Dr Ward and Dr Golberger will consider the relevant theoretical models and illustrate the continued relevance of Fraiberg’s contribution over 40 years later.
Reading:
Winnicott DW (1960). The Theory of the Parent Infant Relationship. International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 41, 585-595
Fraiberg S, Adelson E & Shapiro V (1975) . Ghosts in the Nursery: A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Problems of Impaired Infant-Mother relationships. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 14(3), 387-421.
Shuttleworth J (1997) Psychoanalytic theory and infant development. In: Closely Observed Infants (Miller J, Rustin M, Rustin M & Shuttleworth J Eds) Bristol Classical Press