“What Is Genuine Maternal Love?”

In our own words: key terms and trends in psychoanalytic history

Inspired by the work of Fonagy (2008) and Dent and Christian (2019), this study applies a form of quantitative textual analysis to 300 terms of psychoanalytic interest in the PEP archives by tracking their historical prevalence in five-year increments using the aggregate number of articles featuring each term in the field's journals. Our results confirm some of the more well-known inflection points in the history and application of psychoanalytic theory, while also revealing some intriguing surprises. Psychoanalysis remains fundamentally a depth psychology, yet it has increasingly acknowledged the external causes of distress and trauma. Changes in the prevalence of terminology around psychopathology, defense mechanisms, development, gender and sexuality, and psychoanalytic technique are discussed.

THERAPISTS' EXPERIENCES OF MOTHER-INFANT PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

As part of a larger research project in Sweden, a qualitative study investigated psychotherapists' experiences of mother-infant psychoanalysis (MIP). A randomized controlled trial compared two groups of mother-infant dyads with psychological problems. One had received Child Health Center care, and the other received MIP. Previous articles on long-term effects have found that mothers who had received MIP were less depressed throughout a posttreatment period of 3½ years, and their children showed better global functioning and psychological well-being. The present study's objectives were to describe the therapist's experiences of MIP and deepen the understanding of the MIP process. Six months after treatment began, all therapists were interviewed. Transcribed interviews with therapists from 10 (of 33 total) MIP treatments were randomly selected and analyzed in detail by thematic analysis. Therapists worked successfully with mother and infant together and found different ways of cooperation during MIP sessions. Therapists reported overall positive experiences; however, in cases where mothers needed more personal attention, it would be important to adapt the method to them.

Child analysis in a changing world. In the face of a paradigm shift from the mind to the brain: Can we meet the challenge?

Child analysts and child therapists are now practicing in a new environment where an increased emphasis is made on identifying the symptoms and finding the shortest possible way to get rid of them, from the knowledge of brain functioning. From that perspective, the history of the symptom, of the child who owns it, and of the family in which this child is being raised are not emphasized as strongly. Searching for a specific meaning of such symptoms seems to be of no more interest. How can such a heavy trend be met? Major changes also have occurred within the psychoanalytic milieu. Advances from the observational world, from Spitz (1945) to Bowlby's (1987) attachment theory, provide essential knowledge to the field of early child-parent interactions. Longitudinal research in recent decades has shown close ties between early development and future outcomes. Such new knowledge is inspiring child analysis with very young children as well as with severely disturbed, older children. Early intervention with disadvantaged populations is showing the importance of the nonspecific aspects of the therapeutic relationship as a factor of change. In light of recent neurobiologic research on the influence of a specific environment-attachment experiences-on early development of the brain, it is now possible to speak of the social brain (Cozolino, 2006).