Learning from mothers who received focused parent–infant psychotherapy for the treatment of their child’s regulatory disorders

ABSTRACT

Objective:

Gaining a deeper understanding of how focused parent–infant psychotherapy (fPIP) works by asking mothers about their experiences.

Method:

Purposeful sampling was used to select participants who before had participated in an RCT on fPIP. Nine mothers of infants with early regulatory disorders who had received fPIP were interviewed. Eight cases received full-protocol treatment, one case was a treatment drop-out. Semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed applying grounded theory methodology.

Results:

Seven major categories evolved: (1) engaging in therapy while maintaining autonomy, (2) relating to an emotionally responsive therapist and resolving ruptures, (3) involvement of partners in therapy facilitates multiple perspectives, (4) understanding the meaning of the child’s signals and increasing acceptance of difficult behaviors, (5) feeling supported by advice that is attuned to the families’ needs, (6) insight into parental contributions to the child’s problems and (7) feeling strengthened as a mother and recognizing one’s own needs.

Conclusion:

Findings highlight which aspects of fPIP mothers find most helpful and most challenging. Aspects that compromised the change process seemed related to the specific needs of this population and therapeutic setting. The results may guide therapists and inspire future development in interventions for treating infant regulatory disorders.

KEYWORDS:

• Parent–infant psychotherapy
• qualitative psychotherapy research
• psychotherapy process
• significant moments
• early regulatory disorders
• caregiver interviews

Acknowledgements

The authors thank participating mothers for engaging in the interviews and sharing their experiences with them. We thank Madeleine Miller-Bottome, PhD, who helped with editing the manuscript.

Ethical approval

The approval for research in this sample was obtained from the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University (No. S-541/2013 approved November 4, 2013). Participants gave their informed consent to participate in this study.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2021.2023778.