Psychosis: Psychodynamic work with families

Abstract

Psychoanalysts suggested psychological work with families where a member has a psychosis back in the 1950s and 1960s. The paper gives a brief historical outline and then describes a number of reasons – including compatibility with NICE Guidelines – why a psychodynamic approach should be made available.

A case example is given of psychodynamic family work in an Early Intervention in Psychosis service where the father of three children had a protracted psychosis and the mother's own history had played into a lack of expectations of her husband; this couple dynamic played an important role in infantilizing the patient rather than supporting him in his role as father and husband. Psychological work that involved the mother was an essential key to supporting her husband's development and confidence with substantive benefits to all members of the family including the children.