This study explored the perceptions of practitioners who deliver the Baby Mat community-based, parent--infant mental healthcare intervention offered at primary healthcare clinics in Alexandra Township, South Africa. This intervention aims to foster secure attachments between mothers/caregivers and infants, shaping a healthy foundation for future…

This article tells the story of a single mother, Maria, who has a history of trauma, and her 2-year-old daughter, Lina, as they learn, play, and heal together through the use of Child-Parent Psychotherapy, an evidenced-based, trauma-informed therapeutic intervention in a home-based program model. Through the power of play, Maria and Lina are able…

An attachment-based, psychotherapeutic parent education course was created for incarcerated mothers and fathers to help improve their ability to provide positive parenting and a more stable home environment for their children. The current study assessed the effects of this parenting curriculum on parents' reported tendencies to be abusive, their…

The impacts of violence for young children and their caregivers are multidimensional. The story of 2-year-old Tyronne, his mother, Josephine, and his father, James, illustrates the use of a relationship-focused treatment, child-parent psychotherapy (CPP), in addressing the traumatic consequences of exposure to violence. This family's story…

This article aims to demonstrate that it is not only the mind that needs to have the capacity to hold and transform, but also the body. Fordham's concept of the "primary self" emphasises the unity between the body and emotional states in infancy. The self is expressed through actions that bring the infant into contact with the mother and the…

This is the last of a series of three papers exploring the use with older children of tripartite psychotherapy--a technique of psychoanalytic psychotherapy of the parent-child relationship with both parent and child in the room together with the therapist. Tripartite psychotherapy merits more attention than it has received. It is a flexible,…

Edward was one of 58 children studied by workers and parents as part of a study on Well-being and Resilience at the Pen Green Nursery. Within the larger study, eight children were studied in greater depth in order to explore connections between cognitive and emotional development. Schematic theory and attachment theory were used as frameworks for…

The development of insecure attachment relationships in the offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder (MDD) may initiate a negative trajectory leading to future psychopathology. Therefore, the provision of theoretically guided interventions designed to promote secure attachment is of paramount importance. Mothers who had experienced …

A total of 14 kindergarten children participated in a story completion task in which they used doll play to enact a series of stories about family events. The children's mothers completed the Adult Attachment Interview, which measures adults' perceptions of their childhood family relationships. Doll play and interviews were rated for rejection and…

Objective: Treatment outcome for preschool-age children exposed to marital violence was assessed, comparing the efficacy of Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) with case management plus treatment as usual in the community. Method: Seventy-five multiethnic preschool mother dyads from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds were randomly assigned to (1) CPP…

Discussed are principles of nonverbal therapy for deaf children with disorders in the development of self, and the possible existence of a relationship between lack of auditory experiences in deaf children and disorders in mother-child bonding. A case study presents a three-year-old deaf boy successfully treated through a nonverbal…