Interplay of relational parent–child representations from a psychoanalytic perspective: An analysis of two mother–father–child triads

Abstract: In this chapter a psychoanalytic perspective is applied to the examination of parents' representations of their relationships with their child, and to the interplay between these representations and the child's relational representations. A review of the psychoanalytic object relations and attachment perspectives on parent–child relational representations is followed by the illustration of the application of the Core Conflictual Relational Theme method (CCRT; Luborsky & Crits-Christoph, 1998) and the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; Zeanah et al., 1986) to two mother–father–child triads. The CCRT identifies the content of relational themes in relationship narratives, while the WMCI assesses the parent's working model of the child and the relationship. Links between the parents' and child's relational themes and representation organization are presented in order to demonstrate the shared and unshared aspects of the inner worlds of parents and children, and the implications for clinical work with young children are discussed, In this chapter, we apply a psychoanalytic perspective to parents' representations of their relationships with their child, and to the interplay between these representations and the child's relational representations. By applying the Core Conflictual Relational Theme method (CCRT: Luborsky & Crits-Christoph, 1998) and the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI: Zeanah, Benoit, & Barton, 1986) to the analysis of two mother–father–child triads, we will illustrate both the relational themes (content) and the cognitive aspects (organization and coherence) of the representations of the working model of the parent–child relationship (Gabarino, 1998).