Search

The meeting between a father and his child when it is hindered by a still painful early history can benefit from specific support through interactive guidance therapy. This tailor-made support, through the viewing of filmed sequences of play between the father and his son, helps him to get in touch with the current interactions as the veils of the past are cleared. Through the experience of the video, the father discovers his skills and thus gradually develops confidence in his parenting abilities, enabling him to take his place as a father in the succession of generations.

The social prescription of fatherhood for the modern father, with its array of new rights and the absence of ritual, often overlooks the profound identity crisis that accompanies fatherhood. Access to fatherhood for men is based on the early stages of child sexuality and psychological bisexuality, which are at the origin of a vulnerability that can be at psychopathological risk. The necessary reconciliation with parental imagos and narcissistic rearrangements may require specialised support, beyond the support role currently reserved for it in the context of motherhood.

In the early eighteenth century, a quarrel developed between the chemists at the Académie royale des sciences. They discussed the question if it were possible or not to make artificially some iron from the combustion of vegetal organisms. Étienne-François Geoffroy defended the thesis resting on certain alchemical texts, but Louis Lémery, Nicolas’ son, refused it in the name of a mechanistic conception of chemical operations. Louis Lémery also had to oppose the hypothesis emitted by his father who preferred to admit that the test of the magnet, which was used to reveal the presence of fragments of iron into the ashes, was not convincing. He thought that other substances than iron could be attracted by the magnet. Louis thus had to reject the positions of his father, the latter did not seem for him to have a rather vigorous position against the allusions to alchemical writings and in favour of the strictly mechanistic theories.

Many infants suffer from having to adapt to an environment which does not appeal to them. As the guarantor of a safe environment, the adult enters into a relationship with the infant considered as a real person in his or her own right. From this authentic encounter support for infants in their discovery of their surroundings can be developed.

With the arrival of their first child, fathers see their identity overturned. Their adjustment to their first baby must be taken into account by their family and friends and perinatal heathcare professionals. A review of the literature on this subject enables us to identify and define the different adjustment phases of today's fathers, as well as the factors favouring their commitment to their new role.

H. had perceived his father as an evil persecutor ever since his adolescence. He developed paranoid schizophrenia of persecution in which his father occupied the main role. Little by little, in his desperate resistance against his father, perceived as his enemy, he acquired such a feeling of prejudice, of violation of his personality, and of impotence that the only way out was to escape in order to survive. At the age of 18, he decides to run away from home and from France to stop suffering. He goes to Canada and later to the USA where he would stay 9 years, during which his madness does not stop. Wherever he goes, he always feels the presence of his father in his head: "He orders me, he criticizes me from a distance, he steals all my thoughts, he is in charge of my actions, he takes away the bread from my mouth to humiliate me and kill me…" Thanks to his marginal lifestyle, he maintains a relative adaptation, a fragile equilibrium in his existential bubble in which he doesn't tolerate any breaking and entering. His delusion of prejudices and persecution, of which the main character had always been his father, extends to include society in general, cornering and leading the subject to commit an offense as a reaction of irrepressible pathological self-defense. He is questioned by the police, taken to prison and later taken to an American psychiatric hospital, after shooting at those whom he thinks are "CIA agents" (who are actually people forcing him to move the boat in which he lives). After being deported back to France, he returns to his parent's home, the source of all his madness. During the following months, he lives locked up in his room afraid of being near his father and tormented by his delirious ideas. In order to stop his suffering, he decides to buy a fire-arm to kill himself. One day, his father, accompanied by his mother, break into his room. He takes the rifle hidden under the mattress, and kills his father at point blank. "I thought that I had instantly killed my father, because he fell face down on the ground. On the other hand, my mother remained standing while my sister, screaming, escaped through the window of the living room. My mother, injured on her right side, moved back to the living room. Seeing that my mother hadn't fallen to the ground and not wanting to make her suffer, I reloaded my rifle. I took out the cartridge, and reloaded the rifle with a cartridge of buckshot. It seemed to me that she was still standing in front of the couch. I fired the gun a second time without looking and at that moment she falls on the couch… dead… She is the enemy because she is my father's wife".The recounting and analysis of this double psychotic parricide case illustrate the psychopathologic constants and criminal dynamic that are most often present in this type of crime. The constants are the following: the perpetrator of the post-adolescence or adult parricide is often a psychotic young man; he/she lives a long, delusional story in which one or both parents have an important role; this insane delusion leads to suffering and/or to identifiable behavioral problems that together can constitute a criminal psychic state; The homicidal reaction takes place right after one or a group of factors (such as an argument, brawl, a fit of delusion, interruption of the therapeutic treatment…) that are set off in the criminal pathological state. These psychopathological constants, if they conjoin, are also the factors and indicators of danger. They should be considered as a warning sign to take preventive and remedial measures.

This qualitative research shows differences and similarities between mother and father's experience of incertitude in the process of the announcement of the cerebral palsy and the adaptation strategies used. Interviews have been conducted with 17 parents (10 mothers and 7 fathers). Results of the research reveals three main triggering factors of incertitude: incertitude in regards with the survival of the child, the unpredictability of the evolution of the child and the ambiguity of the information regarding the cerebral palsy Triggering factors of the incertitude are the same for both parents but their reactions towards the these factors and their way of coping with the situation vary.

This qualitative and longitudinal study aims at defining a model of early parent-infant relationships in the perinatal period. Eighteen parental couples were interviewed. The resulting model is based on five themes in the parent-infant relationship, i.e. discovery of the infant, physical proximity, emotional closeness, initiation of complementary interactions and personal commitment to the parental role. The article clearly shows the differences between mothers' and fathers' experiences in developing these relationships with their infant. The nurse's assessment of early parent-infant relationships and her interventions are discussed in a second article, p. 32.

The aim of this article is to review what is currently understood about intergenerational transmission of child sexual abuse (CSA).CSA transmission is discussed first from the point of view of men CSA survivors who become sexually abusive, and then from the perspective of mothers who survived CSA whose children have been sexually abused. Mechanisms that may help us understand how CSA is transmitted from one generation to another are described. More specifically, focus is given to those mechanisms that might differentiate CSA survivors who break the cycle of abuse from those who perpetuate it.In light of the research reviewed, it seems that the transmission of CSA is far from inevitable, since one-third of sexually abusive men and half of sexually abused children's mothers mentioned having been sexually abused in their childhood. Because of the retrospective method used in many studies, causal links could not be established. However, some mechanisms have been proposed in order to better understand the phenomenon of CSA. Severity of abuse, attachment relationships with parental figures, as well as dissociative symptoms that follow the abuse were identified. Dissociative symptomatology appeared to be a determining factor in understanding the cycle of CSA.More studies on CSA transmission are needed to understand the mechanisms that are involved in that cycle, as well as to develop effective strategies to treat and prevent CSA.

The divorce rate steadily increases in the industrialized countries. Such a demographic trend may possibly have a significant impact on the health of the divorced people and their children and therefore on the health care system. Three divorced women are interviewed on the basis of sociological survey techniques. They live three specific personal situations. The interviews concern mainly four domains: divorce process, sex, food and parent-children relations. The breaking down of the former living arrangements modifies a number of personal behaviors, however, it is clear that the way health in the family is managed reflects the management of the divorce itself.

To compare the children of alcoholic fathers who do not develop alcohol or drug problems in adolescence (that is, resilient children) to those who do, focusing on characteristics of personality and family. Various behavioural traits are examined as resilience factors, as are certain educational practices of the parents.Resilience factors were studied throughout childhood, from age 6 to 12 years. The presence or absence of alcohol or drug problems was assessed at the age of 15 or 16 years.Close to 1000 children of both sexes participated in the study. As expected, paternal alcoholism was an important risk factor in the development of substance abuse problems in adolescence. The risk, however, diminishes with personality traits such as low thrill-seeking behaviour and a propensity for inhibition. These traits cannot be considered resilience factors, however, because their effect is as present in children of nonalcoholic fathers as in children of alcoholic fathers. Parental supervision proves to be a protective influence and was found to reduce the risk of substance abuse in children of alcoholic fathers.These results indicate that, above and beyond personality variables, the presence of an alcoholic father constitutes a high risk factor for adolescent drug addiction. Nevertheless, parental supervision may attenuate this risk and is therefore an important means of intervention.

At first intending to describe and understand how all family members experience mourning, three researchers at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières found that very few studies have dealt with young men's reactions to the deaths of their fathers. The researchers then conducted a qualitative study, using a phenomenological approach, of this as yet little-explored subject. This study, Le deuil tel qu'expérimenté par les fils lors du décès de leur père (Grieving as experienced by sons on their fathers' death), enabled them to describe and better understand what young men experience on their fathers' death. The father was an important figure in the subjects' lives, and his death was a pivotal experience for each of them. The family structure was shattered and, while each subject's experience was unique, their intense reactions resemble those described by grief theorists. In a detailed discussion of the results of the study, the authors relate these results to theories on grief and youth, and suggest applications in nursing practice.

This report illustrates the difficult differential diagnosis between severe hysteria and psychosis in a young adult in crisis, and the need to elucidate the existing structure underlying the therapeutic approach. Alice's history will be the subject to a theoretic-clinic discussion. It allows to bring out important concepts to support an hypothesis of a neurotic decompensation.

Mothers of twins have some difficulties to individualize their child-raising activities during the first year. This study was aimed to determine factors influencing such activities.Thirty-seven pairs of twins born after 36 weeks of gestation and weighing more than 2,000 g were included in the study. Relationships between the parents and their children were studied from questionnaires concerning activities during the first trimester and the end of the first year of age. Each item concerning organization of meals and sleeping was graded 1 to 3 according to the degree of individualization of the care. Items concerning support of the mother by the father or other people were graded 1 to 3 according to the degree of this assistance. The physical and psychological status of the mother was also graded according to the presence or not of asthenia and/or depression. Home activities of the mother were also observed.The state of the mother during the first few months had an impact on her mothering behavior: tired or depressed mothers tend to treat the twins collectively and simultaneously. No link was found between social, paternal or general familial support and the degree of individualization in the maternal behaviors.Several factors can interfere with the psychological repercussions of a twin birth on the mother and subsequent psychoemotional development of children. Further studies are necessary to understand how each parent contributes to the organization of the family system.

Through the case study of the analytic psychotherapy of an adopted child, the authors illustrate the specificity of identification problems, in particular towards the paternal imago within an oedipal context. The transferential-countertransferential conditions that enable to consider the psychosexual development, in relation to trauma and adoption, within the framework of the therapeutic relationship will also be considered.

The present case is one of a patient suffering from traumatic neurosis, on whom psychotherapeutic work has been possible. The traumatic experience, which dates back to the Franco-Algerian War, could have gradually started making sense in the context of its onset and of the state in which the relationship between the patient and his father remained at the time. Something along the lines of an irrevocable mistake, irrevocable since logically referred to as a serious moral mistake on the part of the father towards his son, renders humanely comprehensible his upkeep of his atrocity as represented by the repetition of the revival symptoms.

In this paper the authors discuss the problematics of the phenomenon of going into fatherhood within a transient Society, Greece, that was framed in the course of a clinical research. The main goal of this study was to describe the social psychological dynamics and long term dimension of the phenomenon through analysis of interviews with young men becoming fathers for the first time in their lives. The theoretical framework and the social psychological context of the research are presented, together with the analyses of two accounts by fathers interviewed each three times, before and after their child's birth. This clinical material serves as an illustration of the psychodynamic processes of going into fatherhood and points to two dimensions: one is intrapersonal (essentially marked by identifications to parental images) and the other interpersonal (essentially marked by the relationships with the partner). Analysis of the subjects' affects and representations shows that resolution of conscient and unconscious conflicts which takes place during the going into fatherhood are dependent on the process of disengagement from the family of origin and on the ability of both partners to construct a conjugal space. Men (and fathers-to-be) when faced with the situation may either confine themselves to culturally established schemes or/and their own history, or find a new meaning to their personal and relational life.

The author begins by describing incest in the context of a change in attitude toward it and a substantial increase in forensic referral. This is followed by the description of the psychological profile of abusing fathers and how the traumatic experience severly shatters the sense of identity in the victims. Some clinical examples illustrate the role of negative hallucination, basic violence and the phenomenon of the double. The author also approaches the mental functioning of the abusers through the angle of perversion and attempts to define some necessary therapeutic conditions.

Based on the observation of a child born by IAD, suffering of depression and presenting a school phobia, the author discusses the feeling of impotency experienced by the legal father. In another case, the grand-father-to-be is ready to donate his sperm so as to avoid issues on genetics: it is doubtful that such birth conditions would permit a healty organization of fatherhood. Included in the article are references on the literature concerning psychopathology of children born by IAD.

Studies on the psychological development of the Maghreb child, from the psychomotor as well as the emotional points of view, are still quite rare, as is literature and research on the Maghreb child's family and environment. This article synthesizes various data, while identifying what is generally unknown or misunderstood about the Maghreb. This is namely the case of information surrounding the Islam faith. Also, by raising questions about the female child, the author examines one of today's major sociocultural and political problems in Islamic countries: the female citizen of tomorrow in a changing world--an issue which the author considers essential to any endeavour in the field of mental health.

Psychoanalitical literature evolved around the idea of a space for desire structured according to the boy-mother relationship model. Is the feminine clinical approach, together with the historical contribution of feminism, discovering a new space for feminine desire? The psychotic female, for whom the role of the father has no meaning in the mother's discourse, refuses the Law as a symbol of social authority. As for the hysteric female, she does not rely on the Father as a safeguard against the emptyness that lies behind the Laws and the beliefs of men. In its own way, feminism adopts these positions of psychotic rejection and hysteric contestation by projecting them on to the social landscape. Furthermore, feminism requires new forms of social interaction that embody the esthetical space women need to experience life as full-fledged citizens.

The psychopathological studies on adolescence underline the paradoxical behaviours during this period of life. After the analysis of its concept we show in which way the paradox helps to maintain the continuity of psychological life during the crisis. Thus impossible choices which are part of the contradiction in adolescents be avoided. It will be necessary to provoke the emergence of the paradox from the contradictions linked with hospitalization through on hospitalization to make the most of the letter in the therapeutic process.

The parents' task is to get the child to move from his absolute and original narcissism to the awareness of and submissiveness to the principle of Reality, without prejudice to his affective life. This entails a tragic triangular situation that we shall qualify as being Oedipean, although differing from Freud's interpretation. It has a structuring psychodynamic effect requiring complex yet precise mechanisms which entirely proceed from this situation and that we have tried to study thoroughly. The child can thus reach the adult status through access to Reality, and the development of his latent faculties. The Oedipean situation is therefore unique in allowing the progressive making of a normal personality.

A Thematic Aperception Test was used with 13 male and 16 female patients who were requesting A.I.D. The following main psychological reactions were found in women: anxiety and depression (fear of rejection by their family and friends; lowering the image of the husband--the donor being considered as a rival), aggression (the narcissistic woman "demands" A.I.D.; the donor is esteemed highly); mother is protective ("true" paternity comes through love of the child and the need to forget the donor). They found, in men: an inability to abandon fertility as lost (with denial of sterility); ambivalence, castration anxiety and a feeling of being excluded from the mother-child symbiosis with later acceptance of loss of fertility and (sometimes excessively) identification with the "mother". Most subjects studied were not intending telling the child about his true origin; because disclosure would be tantamount to transgressing twice over the laws of paternity and the rules against Oedipus behaviour. There is often a great difference between the ways the partners view the matter and inter-relate. We strongly recommend that psychological advice should be taken before treatment with A.I.D. is started.