Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1952095
Mia Mostoufi, Rachel Acheson
{"title":"Searching for a family in parent-infant observation; a reflective account of a post-graduate student and their seminar leader","authors":"Mia Mostoufi, Rachel Acheson","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1952095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1952095","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Parent-infant observation is an established aspect of preparation for psychoanalytic training or for enriching clinical skills. Despite the vast literature on this subject, there remains a paucity on the process of searching for a family to agree to being observed. This paper explores one post-graduate student’s experience of this task as well as a seminar leader’s reflections on working with this student and other groups of students at this stage. It is argued that each observer’s search for a family to observe can provide rich material for reflection and represent a valuable learning experience for the individual.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"23 - 38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1952095","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44444871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1930868
L. O’Dwyer
{"title":"Infant play therapy: foundations, models, programs, and practice","authors":"L. O’Dwyer","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1930868","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1930868","url":null,"abstract":"This book is a collection of papers written by various multidisciplinary professionals, largely from the United States. Many of the contributors are play therapists, therefore the theoretical basis...","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"83 - 86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1930868","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42028550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1948350
Sue Schraer
{"title":"Watching me, watching you, watching them- the gestation and birth of a mother-infant observation seminar leader","authors":"Sue Schraer","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1948350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1948350","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Leading mother-infant observation seminars is often imbued with anxiety and uncertainty. While there is a significant body of literature, notably by Bick (1964), Harris & Bick (2011), Magagna (1997), Saltzberger-Wittenberg (1997) and Miller et al. (1989) , which examine the endeavour and reflect on it, interested practitioners have seldom been formally trained; this was the author’s experience. The article examines the parallels between the growth and development of an effective seminar leader and the early growth and development of the human infant’s parents. There is a parallel in the lack of formal preparation and the considerable anxiety evoked. The article reflects on the seminar leader's role in containing the seminar group and individual observers as each learns from the experience of grappling with primitive, unconscious feelings, including the transference to the observer and her countertransference. Bion’s (1963) concept of container-contained is apposite here as are the notions of so-called ‘maternal’ and ‘paternal’ functions and the position of the psychoanalytic third.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"63 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1948350","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41845991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1952094
Vasiliki Papoutsi, C. H. Fu
{"title":"Observing infants together: long-term experiences of observers and families","authors":"Vasiliki Papoutsi, C. H. Fu","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1952094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1952094","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Infant observation is a key component of many psychotherapy and psychoanalysis training programs. Observers and families have described the intensity of this unique experience. However, there has been limited investigation of the subsequent experiences of infant observation on observers and on families who had taken part. In the present study, the experiences of observers and families several years following the infant observation period were investigated. We recruited a total of 10 participants, consisting of 7 observers (mean age 53.7 years) and 3 parents (mean age 51.7 years). The length of time since the infant observation was an average of 10.0 years (range 2–16 years). Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the overarching themes and subthemes were explored using thematic analysis. Both observers and families were able to vividly reflect on the infant observation period. All participants reported developing their observation and reflective skills, which observers who work as psychotherapists described as being crucial to their current practices. Participants keenly felt the loss during the observation period, with some parents feeling a more unresolved loss. In summary, the experience remains present and impactful for both observers and parents for years following the infant observation period.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"4 - 22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1952094","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42688321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1930869
Graham Music
{"title":"The origins of you: how childhood shapes later life","authors":"Graham Music","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1930869","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1930869","url":null,"abstract":"This is an extraordinarily informative book, which should be helpful for therapists, professionals of many kinds and, I hope, policy makers. Jay Belsky, American researcher in child development and...","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"79 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1930869","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46152985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1927139
Danila di Pasquale, S. Galliera, Silvia Rosati, Paola Grimaldi, Francesca Stolfi
{"title":"The observational role at the time of Covid-19. Experiences and reflections from observation students in northern Italy","authors":"Danila di Pasquale, S. Galliera, Silvia Rosati, Paola Grimaldi, Francesca Stolfi","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1927139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1927139","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This article relates the experience of interruption to the infant observations of five student observers in AIPPI, Milan, due to the health emergency caused by Covid-19. It goes on to describe the resumption of observation by means of video-observations and, later, observations in person by observers-in-masks. The new ‘meeting’ of the families required great efforts from the students in finding an internal and external ‘relocation’ of the observer position. It also required working through the great frustration caused by the interruption. In parallel, the observed families also had to adjust to the new mode of meeting and had to take up a new position, usually more active, in handling the essential equipment for video connection. Last but not least, adaptation was required of the babies, who found creative, subjective and, at times, distressing ways to relocate themselves and to try to approach the observers. Despite the difficulties, all five of the observations were completed and, according to the observers it proved possible to be in touch with the babies’ internal worlds and to observe their growth and development up to two years of age, despite the unusual and ‘ground-breaking’ modes adopted.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"39 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1927139","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46339620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1927800
P. Gatti
{"title":"Infant observation through a screen; an online response to the impossibility of in-person observation during the Covid 19 pandemic of 2020–2021 in northern Italy","authors":"P. Gatti","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1927800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1927800","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This article is based on observational accounts written after video-observations during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency in northern Italy in 2020–2021. The author tries to show what happened at both sensory and relational levels between observers and infants and between observers and families. Her reflections also consider the observation students’ training experience and a creative response to ensuring attainment of the educational goals of their linked university-validated course. The Covid pandemic forced everyone to readjust and renegotiate some of the basic tenets of infant observation. Physical distance and the lack of in-person contact inevitably changed the ‘proper’ emotional distance as well as the management of silence and abstention (from initiating action or conversation). The article’s intention is to focus on some critical aspects of observing through a screen, which was never Esther Bick’s intention at its introduction. The use of online observation through a screen clearly requires further examination to better understand the novel experience forced on observers as a means of trying to continue baby observation during the pandemic.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"51 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1927800","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42434516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1964718
Trudy Klauber
{"title":"Finding an internal and external ‘relocation’. New perspectives and further thoughts on aspects of infant observation; beginnings and endings, observing during a pandemic and the search for a baby to observe","authors":"Trudy Klauber","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1964718","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1964718","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"24 1","pages":"1 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43772867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2020.1892923
L. O’Dwyer
{"title":"Letter to the Editor","authors":"L. O’Dwyer","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2020.1892923","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2020.1892923","url":null,"abstract":"Students have found it difficult to find families. Baby groups, playgroups and other groups for mothers and babies are not running which means that it is harder for students to make contact with pregnant women who might consider agreeing to an infant observation. This is particularly difficult currently when students are themselves working online which means they cannot readily make contacts through work where they might be able to describe what infant observation is, talk about the idea and answer questions. Additionally, throughout the year, families’ routines have been subject to sudden changes,. They have, for example, had to make different arrangements as “lockdown” regulations change. For example, older children in the UK were, at first, at home, and then encouraged to return to school before the summer, only to be asked to stay at home again in l Autumn 2020. Difficulties arose in establishing a daily routine while families were self-isolating, and home-schooling older children, which created a challenge in establishing a predictable, regular, hourly observation time.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"39 3","pages":"113 - 115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2020.1892923","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41301923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Infant ObservationPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1080/13698036.2021.1888770
A. Badiali, Maurizio Landini, Sara Lombardi, Elisa Bigazzi, Yessica Gussoni
{"title":"Even broken pencils can still work","authors":"A. Badiali, Maurizio Landini, Sara Lombardi, Elisa Bigazzi, Yessica Gussoni","doi":"10.1080/13698036.2021.1888770","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13698036.2021.1888770","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article describes the work of supervision of work, discussed in a group facilitated by a child psychotherapist in a Children and Families Centre in Italy. The supervisor describes the supervisory role and the usefulness of examining the transference and countertransference, in supporting the developing capacity for containment and reflection in the multidisciplinary group discussions. The paper continues with further sections written by different members of the group, including two teachers, a child psychotherapist and a social worker in which they describe their work and the understanding of it which has emerged through discussion. The region where this work takes place is generally socially deprived, with few work opportunities, quite a lot of substance abuse and intergenerational trauma. The supervisor encourages the group to look at the transference, and more especially the countertransference, and what is split off by children and adults and projected into the workers. The examination of the countertransference is seen as an important source of insight into what can be contained and understood in terms of working therapeutically with parents and children in contact meetings and in helping the Family Court to reach decisions about whether children should remain with their parents or not.","PeriodicalId":38553,"journal":{"name":"Infant Observation","volume":"23 1","pages":"173 - 187"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13698036.2021.1888770","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46989707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}