Reflective supervision is considered a key practice component for any infant mental health provider to work effectively with young children and their families. This article will provide a brief history and discussion of reflective supervision followed by a case study demonstrating the importance of reflective supervision in the context of child-parent psychotherapy (CPP; A.F. Lieberman, C. Ghosh Ippen, & P. Van Horn, ; A.F. Lieberman & P. Van Horn, , 2008). Given that CPP leverages the caregiver-child relationship as the mechanism for change in young children who have been impacted by stressors and traumas, primary objectives of CPP include assisting caregivers as they understand the meaning of their child's distress and improving the caregiver-child relationship to make it a safe and supportive space in which the child can heal. As this case will demonstrate, when a clinician is emotionally triggered by a family's negative intergenerational patterns of relating, reflective supervision supports a parallel process in which the psychotherapist feels understood and contained by the supervisor so that she or he is able to support the caregiver's efforts to understand and contain the child.
This article describes models of training in infant mental health that utilize reflective supervision as a fundamental component of the educational and clinical experiences. The design and structure of these programs, offered by two medical centers, are described. Benefits and challenges to the adoption of infant mental health practice by trainees are outlined. Incorporation of reflective supervision in the training is discussed, and clinical examples are provided to illustrate its essential role in the development of the infant mental health clinician.
EDITORSGuilford Press, 1999, 925 pp. Reviewed by Amy B. Dickson, Psy.D. Although the concept of attachment has been discussed since the early 1900s, it is only now achieving overt prominence with the general population. Numerous extensive volumes have been published in the last decade addressing human attachment, with several reaching distribution this past year. One of these comprehensive works is the Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications. Editors Jude Cassidy and Phillip Shaver have done an admirable job of attempting to encompass nearly all aspects of attachment behavior. The Handbook is divided into six sections followed by an epilogue from Mary Main. The sections address the evolution of attachment theory, various biological perspectives, attachment theory throughout the life span, clinical applications of attachment theory, and emerging topics. Numerous prominent researchers and clinicians in the field have contributed to the 36 chapters. The end result is an extensive and comprehensive look at the field of attachment theory which delineates what is known and what remains to be answered.Professionals well versed in attachment theory will find the first section a comprehensive review of attachment theory with little new to offer, but composed of wonderful teaching material. These chapters are primed for recommended readings for trainees or professionals new to the field. The authors also provide material speaking to the long-term sequellae of attachment, hinting at the material to come. Editor Jude Cassidy provided the first chapter, which gives a wonderful introduction for the reader new to the field. Surprisingly, Cassidy left out Zeanah et al.'s (1993, pp. 332 -349) research addressing the issue of an individual's attachments varying by relationship. The introductory chapters provided extensive coverage of a broad topic.Jay Belsky provides one of the highlights of this volume for the experienced professional. His discussion of attachment in relation to the survival of particular genes versus the survival of the individual will surely inspire additional research and lively debate. Belsky views certain attachment classifications that have been labeled negatively (A & C) as adaptive given the environment. The connection of animal research to human behavior was demonstrated masterfully in Suomi's chapter discussing the behavior of rhesus monkeys. Vaughn and Bost provide a comprehensive review of the literature linking attachment and temperament. Their conclusion that no robust correlations could be identified speaks to an interesting continuing debate in the field. Fox and Card also provide a comprehensive and interesting chapter on the physiological correlates of attachment behavior. This chapter was well written and coherent for readers not well versed in physiology.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.