Containment and Reciprocity: Integrating Psychoanalytic Theory and Child Development Research for Work with Children

Containment and Reciprocity shows how the psychoanalytic concept of containment and the child development concept of reciprocity can be used together to inform clinical work with young children and their families. Using extracts of mother/child and therapist/child interactions, Hazel Douglas explores, for the first time, the relationship between these concepts, and shows how they underpin the quality of an attachment.

Using clinical examples from the author’s own psychoanalytic work with very young children as well as her recent research, the book explores these two concepts with important implications for psychotherapeutic technique. Containment and Reciprocity will make valuable reading for all those working in the field of infant mental health.