"What is genuine maternal love"? Clinical considerations and technique n psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy.
The question of what is genuine maternal love was posed by a mother struggling to understand and value the nature of her bond with her small baby. The question surfaced time and again in the context of this dyad's long-term parent-infant psychotherapy and has challenged me to examine my thinking and, indeed, has produced impassioned discussions within the Parent Infant Project team at The Anna Freud Centre. In this paper I will address this question through sessional material of this mother and baby and discuss issues of technique in response to it, including my countertransference and conceptualization.
Baradon
Tessa
T
The Anna Freud Centre, London.
D000328:Adult; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D003379:Countertransference; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D049168:Pregnancy, Unplanned / Q000523:psychology*; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D019962:Reactive Attachment Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D014167:Transference, Psychology