Potentials for infant mental health: Congress themes and moral development

Abstract

Themes of the Congress carried forward the pioneering contributions of Rene Spitz and Takeo Doi. Contributions to infant mental health included those dealing with: (a) relatedness, (b) positive rewards of infancy, (c) disruptions of relatedness and rewards, (d) assessments, and (e) interventions. Contributions from infant mental health and bridging to the future included those regarding: (a) prevention, (b) policy, and (c) advances for science and practice. Knowledge from infant mental health is seen to fill a gap in our current moral discourse. Biologically based, universal moral processes of reciprocity and empathy develop in infancy, with regulation from parenting. Parenting, suffering under conditions of deprivation and adversity, can benefit from interventions designed to promote positive outcomes for conduct. Implications stem from a wider awareness of global needs. An expressed resolve of many is to provide consultation for regions needing our help and to formulate a declaration of infant rights for guiding actions.

Assisting the development of infants born prematurely using a self-regulation framework and relationship-based intervention process

“…Mothers then watched and commented on parts of video replays of each assessment so the intervenor could see through their eyes and hear about how they were making sense of their infant's behaviour. These intervention elements are consistent with Emde's [28] guidelines for successful infant mental health interventions. This intervention (1) addressed the experience of the infant and the mother (2) was developmentally oriented (3) focused on the infant-parent relationship and (4) involved the influence of relationships on other relationships.…”

“…Each intervention session began with the parent's concern or question, which is the basis for working collaboratively [28] . Mothers rarely mentioned delay as a concern (6%); instead their focus was on ordinary day-to-day issues like calming and settling the infant in the newborn period.…”

Forward Progress of Scientific Inquiry Into the Early Father–child Relationship: Introduction to the Special Issue on Very Young Children and Their Fathers

“…The field of infant mental health is grounded in the knowledge that the young child is partnered with important others who provide an interrelated context for the child's development and growth. The concepts of intersubjectivity and relatedness in parenting and child development exemplify the influence of our scholarly theories that inform the lens through which we view early childhood development (Emde, ; Trevarthen, ). Throughout much of the history of infant mental health scholarship, developmental partners with infants and young children, the important others, were typically identified as mothers.…”