Tripartite therapy with older children: mutuality in the relationship of a parent–child attachment

Abstract

This is the last of a series of three papers exploring the use with older children of tripartite psychotherapy -a technique of psychoanalytic psychotherapy of the parent-child relationship with both parent and child in the room together with the therapist. Tripartite psychotherapy merits more attention than it has received. It is a flexible, psychoanalytically oriented approach to parent-child relationship problems, particularly useful when the primary attachment has gone awry. A study is presented of a mother and her 12-year-old (adopted) daughter, who are embroiled in a hostile and rejecting relationship. The mutuality in this case illustrates the complexity in attachment relationships, and also how useful tripartite psychotherapy can be in working with attachment issues that often present as problems of the child alone.

Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review

“…These children may also have better sibling relationships, more positive self-esteem, an increased sense of hopefulness, greater trust in people and relationships, and heightened optimism about their future compared to children with insecure attachment styles. In contrast, insecure and disorganised attachment styles in infancy have been associated with elevated rates of emotional, social and behavioral disturbances in infancy, toddlerhood, preschool and beyond ( Van Ijzendoorn et al, 1999 ; Granot and Mayseless, 2001 ; Sroufe, 2005 ; Berlin, 2008 ; Fearon et al, 2010 ; Madigan et al, 2013 ). A 30-year prospective study of infants with insecure attachment styles at 8 months of age, found insecure attachment to be associated with a higher risk of mental health concerns at 30 years of age ( Fan et al, 2014 ).…”

The development of psychoanalytic parent–infant/child psychotherapy in South Africa: Adaptive responses to contextual challenges

“…Psychoanalytically-oriented parent-infant/child psychotherapy may be variously named elsewhere -Watch Wait and Wonder (Cohen et al 1999), child-parent psychotherapy (Lieberman 2004), parent-infant psychotherapy (Baradon et al 2005), tripartite psychotherapy (Berlin 2008), under fives counselling (Emanuel and Bradley 2008) -but key to all approaches (as indicated by the author's preferred term "parent-infant/child psychotherapy") is targeting parent(s) together with child. Interventions may shift from orienting treatment towards the child or towards the parent; invariably, however, the parent(s) and infant/child attend sessions together.…”