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Am I the only one? What happens in a parent support group in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)?
No full textThe focus of this research is a small piece of clinical work, which was undertaken in a hospital
setting over a number of years. It describes what happened in a drop in group offering support
to parents in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The parents who came to the group all had
babies who were in the NICU either because they were born premature or were very sick. The
group was co-run by a nurse from the unit and a child psychotherapist. The research
methodology used a combination of group process notes and interviews and employed the
Grounded Theory Method, combined with psychoanalytic theory, to identify some central
unconscious phantasies and to look at some of the unconscious group processes in operation.
Four major themes were identified and explored in detail. These were:Trauma and the fear of
annihilation; this dimension explored the impact that trauma and catastrophic dread can have
on parents, and the defences they develop to cope. It then looked at the impact of these
defences on the groups as a whole. The second dimension, A safe place to let off steam?
Destructive feelings, focused on the powerful fantasy of ‘a safe space’, and fears about ‘letting
off steam’ and it also explored some of the ways ‘unbearable states’ were communicated. The
third dimension, was called Consent, paternal function and the growth of skin. This
dimension incorporated ideas about the growth of skin, and a corresponding emergence of
important boundaries between internal and external reality, and alongside this, the development
of a paternal function. The fourth and final dimension was called ‘Am I the only one?’
Reaching out and Reclamation. This dimension gathered together ideas related to a question
asked repeatedly by parents, and it explored how new connections emerged and the factors
that aided resilience. This dimension explored ideas about the phantasy of creating a new
couple, and how this creative and potent connection both internally and externally can aid
parents in reclaiming their baby for their own. I looked at the role the group played in enabling
this to happen.
Through these dimensions the research explored why a group could be supportive for parents,
and looked in depth at one way of providing support to help parents cope with trauma and
separation at the beginning of life. Taking the psychoanalytic ideas of containment and maternal
reverie it looked at how the group itself provided a variety of different types of containment for
the parents who attended. Three different types of group container were identified: first, a
‘flexible container’ which allows mutual adaptation and growth, second a ‘rigid container’, which
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provides a kind of blank stonewalling defensiveness in which contents are crushed, finally a
‘fractured or fragmented container’, when the contents overwhelm and destroy the container.
The research identified examples of different types of group containment and the impact the
wider groups around the babies as well as the institutional structures have on these early
attempts to become a parent.
The conclusions explore the importance of this type of support for parents and babies, both at a
micro level, where the group could be seen as enabling parents to find their own perspective
and their own level of participation. Also of consideration is the importance of the group for the
unit as a whole. Reflecting on recent reports into NHS failures of care, the research highlights
the importance of providing a supportive space for thinking about emotionally painful
experiences, for everyone working and caring for these babies, whether they choose to attend it
or not
In response to Kenneth J. Zucker's comment regarding “correcting for continuity in 2 × 2 Chi-Square tests”
No full textReplies to the comments made by Kenneth J. Zucker (see record 2014-12202-001) on the authors' original article (see record 2013-28991-004). The authors thank Zucker for helpful comments on their paper and for scrutinizing their statistics. Zucker correctly notes that the chi-square value of 2.69 is, in fact, non-significant and the chi-square for the second calculation is 5.00, which is significant at p < 0.05. The authors apologize for these errors and thank Zucker for the correction. Regarding the use of Yates' correction, there remains much debate about whether it should be used
Watch this space! Research studies in depression: Three studies combining clinical psychoanalytical research with studies of outcome
No full textThe relation between social engagement and pretend play in autism
No full textThe focus of this study is the nature and concomitants of pretend play among young children with autism. Age- and language-matched children with autism (n= 27), autism spectrum disorder (n= 14), and developmental disorders without autism (n= 16) were administered the Test of Pretend Play (ToPP; Lewis & Boucher, 1997), with an additional rating of ‘playful pretence’. As predicted, children with autism showed less playful pretend than participants with developmental disorders who did not have autism. Across the groups, playful pretence was correlated with individual differences in communication and social interaction, even when scores on the ToPP were taken into account. Limitations in creative, playful pretend among children with autism relate to their restricted interpersonal communication and engagement
