ABSTRACT
In contrast to the two previous chapters, the two cases described here require longer-term intensive work. Both mother and child are seen jointly as patients, and the therapist finds a way of interpreting that enables each of them to hear something that can offer an insight into themselves. A new mother beset by anxieties about whether she can keep her baby alive or can respond adequately to its needs easily loses touch with her identity as a coping adult. A professional observer listening to the mother's anxieties and noting her fragility and depression, as well as the baby's own difficulties in responding to her, may enable the new mother to be in touch both with her own and with the baby's distress and thus to contain them and to allow for a new growth in their relationship. The chapter describes work with two children, aged 4 and 5, respectively, whom author saw jointly with their mothers for short-term psychotherapy.
