[Clinical relevance of attachment theory for the psychotherapy of small children and their parents].
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the relevance of the attachment theory has gained increasing significance for psychotherapeutic practice. Due to the lack of empirical proof, the only feasible approach, for the time being, are conceptional deliberations, which, however, offer useful ideas for the practical work. Based on an case record obtained from the psychotherapeutic treatment of a 4-month-old suckling and his parents, this article attempts to discuss the incorporation of attachment-theoretical concepts into infant-parent psychotherapy. Infant-parent psychotherapy constitutes a treatment method which, on the initiative of Mechthild Papousek, founder of the "Munich interdisciplinary intervention Program", has enjoyed larger-scale dissemination and deals with regulatory disturbances in infancy. Irrespective of core symptoms and their etiology, regulatory disturbances often lead to impaired mother-child interactions and formation of secure attachment organization of the child. The observation of essential, attachment-relevant contents, such es, for instance, the child's attachment and exploratory behavior an the maternal sensitivity to signals emanating from the child gives rise to novel viewpoints regarding therapeutic interventions.
Hédervári-Heller
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Institut für Medizinische Psychologie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt.
D000328:Adult; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods*