Parent-infant psychotherapy The treatment of an eating disturbance

In this article the treatment of a 1-year-old girl with eating disorder and of her mother is presented. First, the theory of the disturbance constituting the basis for the work of the psychological counseling service named "Vom Saugling zum Kleinkind" (From infancy to early childhood) at the Potsdam College is presented as well as the treatment technique of parent-infant psychotherapy. The focus of the article is the case study. Its particular characteristic is the non-interpretative handling of the transference. The connection between the specific transferential disposition of the parents and the operating factors of the parent-infant therapy is described. The author distinguishes three levels of parental transference which are used in parent-infant psychotherapy. She reflects about the psychodynamics of the infantile pathology and discusses the factors which in this case have allowed a positive development.