ABSTRACT
Chapter 8, “The internal frame at the Child Health Centre”, investigates in depth further issues with doing therapy at a maternity clinic or Child Health Centre. The author differentiates between the internal and the external frame. The former relates to the therapist’s mindset, which he utilizes to help parents discern the “palimpsest” edition of what they are saying and doing, that is, understanding unconscious layers beneath their “official” or conscious attitudes to themselves, their child, and their partner. Since these treatments are brief, the therapist needs to handle classical technical principles, such as the rule of abstinence and transference interpretation, differently than when working with long-term psychotherapy or analysis. This leads to the author’s recommendation of a flexible attitude toward the external frame.
