[Counseling of families with two- to three-year old children].
In this paper, we present the counselling practice in parents with two- or three-year-old children. In most of the cases, the presented children are suffering from separation anxiety or behavioral disturbances. It is either a problem of infants who cling to their mothers and who avoid unfamiliar situations or of children who come into conflicts with their parents because of their oppositional behavior. The basis for our diagnostic and therapeutic procedure is a model of the relationship disturbances in the parents-child-system which is concentrated on the dimensions attachment/intimacy and autonomy/differentiation. These two dimensions are to be understood as a pair of scales loaded by the parents with burdens of conscious and unconscious expectations and projections, thus influencing the balance of the two dimensions. Based on their own experiences parents may encourage or hinder attachment or autonomy in a manner which is inadequately stressing or too early. We present the typology of relationship disturbances and illustrate the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure by case examples.
Cierpka
M
M
Abteilung für Psychosomatische Kooperationsforschung und Familientherapie, Universität Heidelberg.
Cierpka
A
A
D000328:Adult; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009341:Negativism; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods*