ABSTRACT
Parent-infant psychotherapy is a therapeutic modality that works to promote the parent-infant relationship when there is risk that the Baby's development will be hindered by unhelpful or pathological factors in that relationship. The psychodynamic formulation is inherently refined and redefined in the process of the therapy, thereby always carrying the status of an evolving hypothesis. The transference plays as important a part in parent-infant psychotherapy as it does in any psychoanalytic treatment. Emphasis is placed in this model on offering different relational experiences from the disappointing or harmful ones the patient expects to be repeated. Thwarting the transference expectations and introducing new, constructive experiences can be advanced through the mentalizing stance of the therapist, the predictable therapeutic frame that anchors the therapy, and the quality of her presence: curious, engaged, and genuine.
