Treating Vulnerable Mothers, Infants and Young Children Living in Poverty: Co-Creating a Psychoanalytic Playground in Various Alternative Settings

ABSTRACT

The families referred to the Anni Bergman Parent Infant Program (ABPIP) Home-Visiting Project often face multiple, overwhelming stressors embedded within the market-oriented system of poverty and exploitation. These stressors compromise the quality of parental care, which in turn negatively impacts the infant’s well-being. These financially vulnerable families are usually in an urgent crisis that needs immediate attention. The author describes the innovative model of this outreach program based on psychoanalytic infant observation that encourages interventions on multiple levels simultaneously. Another unique aspect of the program is its reshaping of the analytic frame. Considering the ever-changing nature of the physical settings, the analyst’s internal setting becomes a vital, anchoring, and facilitating factor of therapeutic change. Through two detailed case examples, the author shows how these outreach analysts place themselves in between external and internal realities, recognizing the interdependent nature of both, while also maintaining a psychoanalytic attitude and frame that is primarily situated within the analyst. The author also reflects on her own precarious status as an international, temporary visa holder in the US and the ways this external reality entered into the playground of therapy that allowed the author to understand and help a child in a deeper, more personal way based on the dyad’s shared preoccupation with the notion of home.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude as the first recipient of the Susan C. Warshaw Award, a special tribute honoring Susan C. Warshaw’s contributions to children’s mental health and her commitment to psychoanalytic community work. I am sharing this distinction with Sally Moskowitz and Rita Reiswig, co-directors of the ABPIP Home-Visiting Program, whose invaluable guidance and kindness have been instrumental in my receiving this recognition. I would like to extend a special thank you to Sally Moskowitz, with whom I worked on the cases discussed in this paper. Since the day she invited me to the program on a full scholarship, I’ve been grateful for her companionship, encouragement, and generosity. Thank you to the entire Home-Visiting Project team; I feel the work we are doing together has enriched me personally and professionally.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Program’s Home-Visiting Project is supported by The Margaret S. Mahler Child Development Fund and The Girard Fund.

2. Please see the Anni Bergman Parent Infant Program website (Anni Bergman Parent Infant Program, 2023).

3. Several of the ideas in this article originate in three papers I wrote in Turkish: “Analitik yakinligin dogasi uzerine” (On the nature of analytic intimacy). Psikanaliz Yazilari 34, Baglam Yayincilik, Spring 2017; “Iliskiyle buyumek: Bilincdisi/duygulanimsal iletisimin ogrenme surecindeki rolu” (Thriving in a relationship: The role of affective/unconscious communication in the learning process). Psikanaliz Defterleri 3 − Cocuk ve Ergen Calismalari, YKY, November 2019; and “Psikanalitik surecte ayna islevinin rolu” (The role of mirroring function in psychoanalytic process). Suret Psikokulturel Analiz, #12. Ithaki Yayinlari, January 2022.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tuba Tokgoz

Tuba Tokgoz, holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Certificates in Adult Psychoanalysis and in Parent-Infant Dyadic Therapy, and is a licensed psychoanalyst (L.P.).

Dr. Tuba Tokgoz was the first recipient of an annual writing award developed by the Board of Directors of the Child and Adolescent Section (Section II) of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, Division of Psychoanalysis (39), of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Tokgoz was presented with this award at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the SPPP 2023, in New York City. As developed, the award, named by the board to honor Susan C. Warshaw, a founding member of Section II, is intended to create an avenue of support and mentorship for early career professionals who have not previously published an article in a peer-reviewed journal. This first award addressed the topic of the impact of cultural stress on child development and child/family psychotherapy. Section II is responsible for choosing the awardee and mentoring their work. Acceptance for publication is determined independently by the journal, following its peer-review process.