‘Landmark study’ demonstrates the utility of therapeutic interventions involving parents and infants

A new study by the Anna Freud Centre has shown the efficiency of psychotherapeutic interventions involving caregivers and young children to prevent and reduce mental health difficulties arising from the parent-child dyadic relationship.

A comprehensive scientific review of international research has detailed the positive impacts of therapy interventions with children under 5 years of age and their caregivers. The first-of-its-kind research focused on early years psychodynamic and psychoanalytic interventions.

The review of 77 research studies involving 5,660 participants assessed how interventions in the very early months to years of life can prevent and resolve mental health difficulties for parents and their child by focusing on the fundamental relationship between them.

Aiming to get ‘get beneath and surface’ of early difficulties and at that stage, inarticulable emotions, psychodynamic and psychoanalytic theory have nearly a centuries-long history of studying and treating emotional and behavioural problems that develop in a child’s formative years.

The psychoanalytic method involves voicing the perspective of the infant and focusing on strengthening the dyadic parent-child relationship.

Psychoanalytic theory also gives particular significance to the inheritance of generational trauma – the passing down of trauma and adversity through the experience of the parental relationship – meaning that some families may require help in developing strong foundations in preventing a reoccurrence of mental and emotional health issues in their children.

However, a number of modern psychologists have been critical of the psychoanalytic method due to the ambiguities of the data showing its efficiency in treating mental distress and for its theoretical basis in interpreting child’s play as signs of their unconscious inner world and in dream analysis.

The evidence bases for psychoanalytic and psychodynamic interventions in children

Quantifying the utility of the psychoanalytic and the related psychodynamic approach to therapy, the Anna Freud Centre review has demonstrated how early therapeutic interventions can offset negative outcomes associated with adversity and severe mental health issues in the early psycho-developmental stage.

The research study showed improvements in the following:

• Parental Reflective Functioning – a caregiver’s capacity to understand both their own and their child’s thoughts and feelings and how these two are interconnected.
• Postnatal depression in the parent.
• How the infant or young child behaves socially and emotionally.
• The attachment relationship of the parent-child, which is the basis for future relationships of the young child.

The families in the studies were receiving therapy due to significant and multiple psychological and social stressors in their parenting. The interventions for the families in the review were aimed at alleviating more than one problem present in the relational dynamic, such as mental health difficulties, substance misuse issues, poverty, domestic violence, and trauma.

Chief Executive for the Association of Child Psychotherapists, Dr Nick Waggett, said:

“We are so pleased to hear the encouraging outcomes of this international research in recognising the role of psychotherapy in improving health outcomes for parents and children. It shows that early intervention when difficulties arise can make a real difference and supports Child Psychotherapists who are working every day with very young children and their caregivers to improve their mental health.”

“The first months and years of life are critical for shaping a range of health and social outcomes throughout someone’s lifespan. We must improve services to support families whose difficulties are often very severe and can have adverse impacts on the health and development of children. It is encouraging to see in this research how adversity and hardship faced by parents and their children can be dramatically supported by the right psychoanalytic interventions.”