INFANT and YOUNG CHILD MENTAL HEALTH SEMINAR
Georgia De Gangi, PhD,and Marc Nemiroff, PhD, Co-Chairs
"THE CHILD IS FATHER. . ." How early development lays the foundation for complex psychopathology in adolescence and adulthood.
This two-year seminar series program examines the ways in which the characteristics a child brings into the world interact with characteristics of parents and family to create lifelong, enduring attachment patterns and intrapsychic structures. The 2008–2009 academic year will focus on children under 8; the 2009–2010 year will focus on older children, adolescents and adults. Participants may enroll for either year or for both years.
The program integrates multiple dimensions to understand a child and family, and to develop and plan treatment strategies. The conceptual framework used includes constitutional, attachment, family systems and psychodynamic factors relevant to diagnosis and treatment. Factors underlying continuities and discontinuities in development will also be examined. Faculty and guest presenters will integrate developmental and clinical theories with case material.
Topics covered include:
- Constitutional factors important in psychological development
- The importance of evaluating caretakers' ability to support and protect the child with regulatory or other constitutional challenges: When and how does biology become (or not become) psychopathology?
- An organizational/systems perspective for understanding the ways in which attachment, constitution, family, culture and psychodynamic factors interact in the development of the young child
The faculty will use selected cases to illustrate how constitution and experience affect patterns of coping and interaction that can evolve into long-term psychopathology. Some presentations will show how goals and interventions change during long-term treatment of a developing child; others will look retrospectively at the early roots of adolescent or adult symptoms. Some patients will be discussed at successive stages of development.
ELIGIBILITY
This seminar series is open to licensed mental health and early intervention professionals. Doctoral candidates who have relevant internship experience may also apply. Students may apply for one or both years, but the second year will be more meaningful to participants who have completed Year One or who have previously participated in the program. Please attach a copy of your CV to your application. Enrollment is limited.
TUITION AND FEES
Tuition is determined annually and is $735 for 2008–2009.
SCHEDULE
The seminar sessions will meet on the following Fridays from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Each session includes a case presentation followed by faculty and student discussion:
| September 26 | Conceptual and Theoretical Overview | Faculty |
| October 24 | Chronic Post Traumatic Stress, An Orphan's Legacy | Gwen Martinsen, PhD |
| November 21 | Asperger's Over Time: A 15-year Treatment. Part One: Ages 4 through 6 | Marc Nemiroff, PhD |
| December 9 | Living in the Land of Minions:The World of an Autistic/Psychotic Child | Georgia DeGangi, PhD |
| January 16 | To be determined | Grifffin Doyle, PhD |
| February 20 | From Separation Anxiety to Adolescent Anger: A Developmental Journey | Guest presenter Lenni Gimple Snyder, LCPC |
| March 20 | Walking on Tightropes without a Safety Net: The Development of the Unregulated Self | Mauricio Cortina, MD |
| April 17 | To Be or Not to Be: The Life Struggle of a Young Child | Guest presenter: James Venza, PhD |
| May 15 | Summary and review of concept and theory as illustrated by presented cases | Faculty |