A study on the application of the Bick Method of infant observation in triadic interactions between father-mother-baby

• Grant number: 17/20673-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 15, 2018
• End date: April 14, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Isabel Cristina Gomes
• Grantee: Carine Valéria Mendes dos Santos
• Supervisor: Margaret Lush
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Tavistock and Portman NHs Foundation Trust, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/24335-7 - A study on father, mother and baby dyadic and triadic interactions: achievements and limitations for egalitarian parental care practice, BP.DR

Abstract

To do an international research internship is an exceptional opportunity to strengthen the methodological foundations of my PhD research, which aims at analysing dyadic and triadic interactions between fathers, mothers and six to eight months old babies. In order to achieve this purpose, I have made some adaptations on the Infant Observation Method, developed by the psychoanalyst Esther Bick in the Tavistock Clinic, London, in 1948. Originally, technical preconditions were expected to apply this method: to observe the mother-baby dyad for an hour every week until the baby is two years old; to take free notes after each observation, disregarded any preconceptions and theoretical frameworks and; to assist a regular supervision group or to attend meetings with a psychoanalyst with extensive experience in child treatment, in order to discuss observation notes, transference and countertransference process. Due to these methodological preconditions, Bick's Method has shown a great potential to be explored in scientific research. Some adaptations, however, were necessary in order to achieve my purposes in the present project, such as: to observe the father-mother-baby triad for an hour every week for three months (when babies are 6 to 9 months old); to attend different kinds of supervision, a clinical one and a psychosocial one, established in order to work through interactional psychodynamic aspects and macro-micro social familiar aspects. I expect, therefore, that the internship at the Tavistock Clinic may contribute to endorse my application of the Bick's Method.