Reflections on using infant observation in a multi-method research project looking at infants’ defences against disturbed and disturbing mothering

ABSTRACT

The author reflects on her experience of combining quantitative and qualitative research methods to explore the power of psychoanalytic infant observation as a clinical and research tool. One difficulty was holding the tension between the different approaches and their theoretical assumptions. The author’s primary aim was to capture the process by which psychoanalytic psychotherapists using the observational technique, the countertransference and their understanding of psychoanalytic theories about the internal world phenomena in mother and infant, to make clinical deductions, which, in turn, inform treatment approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Multimethod research
• applied infant observation
• Mother and Baby Unit
• infantile defences
• unconscious phantasy
• child psychotherapist-researcher

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 A version of this paper was presented at the biennial Tavistock international conference on infant observation, ‘The Contemporary Observer: Learning and teaching psychoanalytic observation today’, 2018.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexandra de Rementeria

Alexandra de Rementeria is a Lead Therapist at the Tavistock Outreach in Schools project and she is Assessment Tutor for what was formerly known as the Masters in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies, now renamed Working with children, young people and families: a psychoanalytic observational approach (M7). She is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child Psychotherapy and co-author, with Dilys Daws, of Finding your way with your baby, a BMA award-winning book.