Infant-Parent Psychotherapy: A Handbook

Stella Acquarone began her pioneering career as a child psychotherapist and this book is based upon her observations and treatment of over 3,500 parents and their infants throughout several decades. With its roots in the major fields of psychology, emerging from developmental psychology, research in infancy and psychoanalysis of early life, she has created an exciting and ground-breaking new field of psychoanalytic psychotherapy -- infant-parent psychotherapy.

Infant-parent psychotherapy focuses on pre-verbal communication with babies, using the simple tools of experience and observation. Acquarone has developed new concepts, such as The Parenting Space and The Eternal Triangle (the mother-father-infant bond) to explain how the therapy works. This comprehensive handbook is full of vital information on the theory and practice of infant-parent psychotherapy. The history and background of infant-parent psychotherapy are laid out explaining the two vital components underlying the effectiveness of this kind of psychotherapy: neurobiological and psychodynamic. Its application to understanding babies is detailed, demonstrating the psychodynamic approach in theory and in practice. Once the basics are explained, Stella Acquarone presents a step-by-step guide on how to assess, diagnose and treat babies, including case studies for practical illustration. She also provides separate chapters on special needs babies and troubled mothers, again using case studies for examples. At the back of the book, quick reference tables, maps, matrixes and indexes are provided.