Pre- and postnatal psychosocial intervention concepts

Abstract

Psychiatry, psychoanalysis and infant mental health research of the last decades have led to intervention concepts for pre- and postnatal stages of human development. Such concepts reach from how parents-to-be can be prepared for parenthood to how to intervene in support of relation and attachment in infants, toddlers and older children. Especially the postnatal relation of infant and parents has been examined extensively, as have parental competencies. The expression of intuitive parental competencies (according to Papousek and Papousek) may be compromised by diverse factors, thus putting the infant's psychic development at risk in general. Early intervention concepts may help out to some extent. In German-speaking countries, there are intervention programs focusing on bonding as there are on handling, processing of and coping with trauma, on promoting secure attachment between infant and parents, on relational issues, on bodily contact, on understanding the infant's signals, including those of the preterm infant, as well as on educational practices. From prenatal period onwards up to kindergarten age there are structured interventions, including the involvement of parents and parents-to-be. Yet, some factors of psychic development and of pathology may not necessarily be reached by these. Whereas concepts on an individual level of personality education do exist, nevertheless there might have to be collective measures. There seems to be a need to augment the agenda as there is good reason to assume that in the last decades there has been a motion toward new social deprivation stemming from societal depravation processes, which might potentiate future deprivation.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.