Separation and loss as a fulcrum for developmental change in infants and parents: research findings and clinical implications

Significant losses and separations can be either an impediment or a spur to development, depending on internal and external circu mstances. This symposium explores varying outcomes from points of view of infants and parents, citing material from a) two research studies using psychoanalytic infant observation, b) clinical research using video to track processes of change in psychotherapy with parents and u nder fives, and c) parent-infant psychotherapy.

The first presentation presents find ings from a project exploring changes in women 's sense of identity in becoming mothers for the first time in an inner city area characterized by ethnic and cultural diversity and rapid social change. Six infant-mother pai rs from a larger sample of families participating in an interview study were observed at home every week for one year. This paper focuses on the management of weaning as prototypical of early experiences of loss and separation, one that affects the parents as well as the baby. Particularly interesting was the impact of weaning on mothers' sense of themselves as mothers. Deal ing with the separation and loss of breastfeeding paradoxically cou ld confirm to their importance to their babies and their sense of what it was to be a 'mother'. These processes mirrored and enhanced developments taking place i n the babies.

The second presentation also involves a research study using i nfant observation of six mother-baby pairs. It focuses on the development of ind ices that allow for infant observation material or video record ings to be coded for qual ities of contai nment and modes of fit between mother and baby over the first six months, and how far consistencies in these may be recognized in what has been internalized following separatio:1s at later stages.

Based on a research study of the cl inical process, the third presentation add resses the theme of developmental impasse th rough the example of a fami ly where the mother's loss of a previous baby, and the resulting sense of depression and incomplete mourning, prevented the parents from helping their next baby, the referred patient, from separating and growing psychologically. The paper also highl ights the degree to which the development of the mother's sense of identity as a mother was affected by the death of her first baby, and explores the degree to which clin ical processes cou ld, v ia developments i n the relat ionsh i p with the referred child , amel iorate this impasse.

The final presentation uses clinical material from parent infant psychotherapy and work with under fives to explore factors associated with varying outcomes to experiences of separation and loss. Like all the papers, it wi ll highlight the impact of developmental transitions in the baby on the parents, the impact of the parents' reactions on the baby, and the degree to which these processes are taking place in a changing world.