Abstract

ALMEIDA, Mariângela Mendes de et al. Containing family anxieties: metaphoric mediations in an assessment group intervention with children and parents. J. psicanal. [online]. 2007, vol.40, n.72, pp.113-133. ISSN 0103-5835.

This paper discusses the possibility of containing contemporary family anxieties through seeing children and parents in an assessment group approach. Such resource facilitates investigation, intervention and possible referrals, promoting the child and family mental health. Psychoanalytic group traditions are integrated to psychological assessment as an intervention. We emphasize the metaphoric mediations provided by the projective instruments used, especially regarding their function of condensing expressive aspects related to the dynamics exposed by the parents and children, and their potential, through play, as communication and as facilitators in the transmission of our therapeutic indications. We explore the interrelation between what is expressed in the Children Group and the Parents Group, emphasizing how much this exercise can facilitate the comprehension of the subjective constitution of parents and children that seek for our help and the containment of family anxieties, besides contributing to the development of a relational psychoanalytic view within professional training.

Keywords : Family anxieties; Metaphoric mediations; Assessment group intervention; Child mental health; Psychoanalytic relational view.

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