Child Psychotherapy in a GP practice Baby Clinic
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The contribution of child psychotherapy to work supporting the emotional difficulties of parents and infants in the baby clinic of a GP practice
IRAS ID
216500
Contact name
Felicity Tyson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The primary research question I wish to explore is how brief psychoanalytic psychotherapy with parents and infants, and a psychoanalytic understanding of the states of minds of infants and new parents, could help support emotional development in infants and foster healthier relationships between parents and their children.
I propose to carry out my research at an inner city GP practice, an outreach setting where I work once a week in the parent-infant psychotherapy service through the practice’s weekly baby clinic. The baby clinic provides a weekly drop-in for vaccinations, measuring and appointments with health visitors, GPs and nurses.
My psychotherapeutic work with parents and infants involves brief (five sessions) weekly and then fortnightly sessions with families referred to the service by the GPs and health visitors. Usually these parents have received some support from GPs and health visitors before the referral is made. Difficulties can include struggles with feeding, sleeping, separations or difficulties in bonding, where there is an emotional underlay.
Through interviews with clinical staff at the practice who refer families to the parent infant psychotherapy service, I would like to explore and raise questions such as: What it is that they notice about the states of mind of parents and infants who come to the clinic? What is it that might prompt them to make a referral for psychotherapy? What emotional difficulties do they notice in parents and infants?
Looking at the parent infant psychotherapy model and detailed clinical session notes, I hope to explore the benefits and limitations of brief parent infant psychotherapy in supporting the emotional development of parents and infants.
I hope to also provide recommendations for how brief work could be applied in similar community settings and how helping to foster and support psychoanalytic thinking in practitioners can support them in this kind of work.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0878
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion