"Mother and M." - the analysis of the case of a dyad impacted by trauma experience

Abstract

This analysis is the result of preparation for a diploma in psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy at the School of Infant Mental Health in London. Parent-infant psychotherapy (refers to young children, up to 5 years old) is just beginning to emerge in Poland. Nevertheless, the first years after the birth of the child are a critical period for the parent - earlier unresolved internal conflicts, traumatic events or relationships remind of themselves in the form of so-called "ghosts from the past". Often it is the problem in the child that brings the parent to the psychotherapeutic room, e.g. tantrums, inconsolable crying, difficulties in maintaining contact. This paper will present the therapeutic process of a dyad (mother and child) who experienced violence from the child's father, but it was the child's tantrums and his " disobedience" that were the reason for the report. The article analyses the one-year process of psychoanalytic psychotherapy of the dyad. It describes how early traumatic experiences disrupt the child's normative development and, more importantly, the bond with the primary caregiver. It presents the working methods of dyad's psychotherapy and highlights psychoanalytic approaches to understanding the difficulties experienced by the child. The description is an example of the intergenerational transmission of violent relationship patterns in the family.