Psychodynamic Parenthood Therapy: A model for therapeutic work with parents and parenthood

Abstract

The approach to therapeutic work with parents in psychotherapy has been described in the literature in various ways but is not well defined. This article will give a short review of four main types of therapeutic work with parents: 1) Meeting to update and to accompany parents (Periodic update meeting with parents complementary to the child’s psychotherapy), 2) Parental counseling (guidance), 3) Parent-child therapy (Relationship or dyadic therapy), 4) Family therapy. The claim is made that those approaches, important and effective as they are, do not deal with the parent as a main issue, and do not place enough attention on parenthood. This article offers a model referred to here as Psychodynamic Parenthood Therapy (PPT). PPT is a dynamic therapeutic intervention with parents based upon a contract focusing mainly on working on their parenthood. In general, a parent’s negative feelings towards his parenthood or towards his child are some of the basic issues that can be helped by this approach. After clarifying the guidelines for choosing PPT, both the contract and the process itself will be explained. The process deals with parenthood: internalizations, unconscious feelings, intergenerational transmissions and parental identity. In comparison with other methods which do not deal specifically with parenthood, PPT will often lead to a meaningful and effective therapeutic result.