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The emerging field of mother‐infant psychotherapy lends itself particularly well to objective measures of change. The improvements are often rapid, involving symptom relief or removal. These improvements can be related to subjective change in mothers and to modifications of various interactive variables. We examined changes due to brief therapy (maximum of 10 sessions) in cases of functional and behavioral disturbances in children less than 30 months old. Evaluations were done before treatment and at 1 week, 6 months, and 12 months after therapy. The outcome measures were changes in the infant's symptoms, the mother's representations, and the behavioral interactions between mother and infant. One group of mothers and infants was seen in a form of psychodynamic brief psychotherapy developed in our Center, and a control group was seen in a noninterpretive form of therapy called interactional guidance. This progress report includes the initial 38 mother‐infant dyads who have completed the first three evaluations. Results indicate that the major changes are seen in symptom relief or removal; interactions change in the direction of becoming more “harmonious,” with mothers becoming less intrusive and infants being more cooperative. A better identification between mothers and infants is seen in the measures of the mothers' representations. No major differences between the two forms of therapy have yet appeared. To date, pretreatment predictions show little correlation with actual outcomes. Change proved to be durable, even showing some improvement in the 6‐month follow‐up evaluations. Results are discussed from the point of view of (1) the challenge of an objective, quantitative evaluation of subjective changes; (2) the issue of specificity of modes of treatment; (3) the difficulties of outcome predictions; (4) the remarkable opportunities for prevention of psychic disturbances in infancy; and (5) the relational nature of early disturbances.

This pilot study explores the effects of a brief individual psychoanalytic therapy on perinatal depressive symptoms. This intervention is based on the Geneva's mother-infant intervention model. A sample of 129 pregnant women was recruited in Geneva (Switzerland) and screened for depressive symptoms with two instruments: the 'Edinburgh postnatal depression scale' (EPDS) and the 'Dépistage anténatal de la dépression postnatale'. A group of 40 women presenting depressive symptoms (treatment group) participated in a four-session intervention called 'Psychotherapy centred on parenthood (PCP)'. It consists in two antenatal and two postnatal sessions and is focussed on changing problematic representations of parenthood. This treatment group was compared to a control group of 88 women without depressive symptoms and following the usual obstetrical care. The main outcome measure was EPDS at 3 and 6 months after delivery. The 'Global assessment functioning scale' was administered at the end of each therapeutic session. The 'Parent-infant relationship global assessment scale' was administered at the two postnatal sessions in order to explore if PCP was also effective in preventing the potential negative effects of depression on mother-infant relationship. Results show that in the treatment group (N = 31), EPDS scores dropped from 12.8 to 4.8; none of these women met the EPDS cut-off score of 12 at 3 and 6 months postpartum. Mother-infant relationship was well adapted for all 31 dyads at the end of the intervention. These results suggest that PCP is a promising intervention for treating perinatal depression and helping mothers engaging in parenting.

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