Abstract
This study found that within a non-referred community pediatrics clinic sample, the severity of mothers’ trauma-related psychopathology, in particular, their interpersonal violence-related (IPV) posttraumatic stress, dissociative, and depressive symptoms predicted the degree of negativity of mothers’ attributions towards their preschool age children, themselves, and their own primary attachment figure. Results also showed that mothers with IPV-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as compared to non-PTSD controls showed a significantly greater degree of negativity of their attributions toward their child, themselves and their primary attachment figure during childhood. The study finally found a significant reduction in the degree of negativity of mothers’ attributions only towards their child following a three-session evaluation-protocol that included a form of experimental intervention entitled the “Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Session(s)” (CAVES), for mothers with IPV-PTSD as compared to control-subjects.
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Notes
“Tony and Barbara” are pseudonyms for actual subjects that participated in the study after the mother Barbara had given specific consent for clinical material that was related to the dyad's participation to be presented and/or published for the benefit of health professionals and trainees.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the following sources of funding awarded to the first author, which sources made the research discussed in this paper possible: the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) “SYNAPSY—The Synaptic Bases of Mental Diseases” financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (No. 51AU40_125759), the International Psychoanalytical Association’s Research Advisory Board Grant, The Bender-Fishbein Fund, the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Columbia University, and NIH K23 MH068405.
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Schechter, D.S., Moser, D.A., Reliford, A. et al. Negative and Distorted Attributions Towards Child, Self, and Primary Attachment Figure Among Posttraumatically Stressed Mothers: What Changes with Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions (CAVES). Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 46, 10–20 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0447-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0447-5