Parent-Infant Psychodynamics: Wild things, Mirrors and Ghosts

Description

This text focuses on the interweaving psychic realities and unconscious dynamics between family members in the context of changing patterns of socio-cultural expectations, ethical considerations and biological realities. Cover Dedication Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Contributors Introduction: On wildness and ghosts - an introduction to psychoanalytic thinking PART I: Face to Face - Containment and Early Exchange Chapter 1: Face and façade - the mother’s face as the baby’s mirror Chapter 2: Mirror-role of mother and family in child development Chapter 3: Conversations with a two-month-old Chapter 4: Emotions and emotional communication in infants Chapter 5: Where the wild things are Chapter 6: The experience of the skin in early object relations Chapter 7: A theory of thinking PART II: Unprocessed Residues Chapter 8: Ghosts in the nursery: a psychoanalytic approach to the problems of impaired infant-mother relationships Chapter 9: Therapeutic interventions in infancy: two contrasting cases of persistent crying Chapter 10: Sleep problems in babies and young children Chapter 11: Into the night: children’s dream books Chapter 12: Unconscious communication Chapter 13: The dead mother complex PART III: Representations and Reality Chapter 14: Joy and woe: response to prenatal testing Chapter 15: Parenting an infant with a birth defect - the regulation of self-esteem Chapter 16: Amanda: observations and reflection on a bottle-fed baby who found a breast mother Chapter 17: Cannibalism and succour: is breast always best? (thoughts on ‘Amanda’) PART IV: Management Issues Chapter 18: Psychoanalytic insight and relationships Chapter 19: Understanding the language of babies Chapter 20: The effect of infants’ behaviour on maternal mental health Chapter 21: Management of perinatal loss of a twin Chapter 22: Pregnancy after stillbirth or neonatal death: psychological risks and management Chapter 23: Feeding disorders Glossary Subject Index Author Index