Strategies of intervention.
This paper begins with a discussion of the optimal conditions for the provision of infant mental health services to infants and toddlers. It argues for the importance of the automatic provision of service at all levels of need. The pediatric setting is emphasized as the natural locus for the integration of such preventive services and as the first and often sole contact of parents and infants with professionals. The various kinds of possible service are delineated as are the sources of stress. It is suggested that the understanding of these factors should dictate the kind and level of response which might be most efficacious. Finally, some basic difficulties in establishing a working alliance with parents whose relationships with their infants and toddlers are developing very negatively are discussed. A framework for understanding some of these problems which may interfere with the parents' utilization of services is provided by employing the psychoanalytic concepts of transference and countertransference. The influence of these transference feelings on the relationship between parents and service providers of all kinds is emphasized and explored.
D002649:Child Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002651:Child Advocacy; D002657:Child Development; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000639:trends*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000639:trends; D011368:Professional-Family Relations