Miguel M. Terradas

Mentalization and attachment representations: A theoretical contribution to the understanding of reactive attachment disorder

This article proposes an understanding of children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) through psychoanalytic thought and mentalization theory. RAD is presented followed by a discussion on attachment and the need for a better understanding of this disorder. Theories from British psychoanalytic thinkers are used to describe what might be transpiring in the early relationship between mother and child. Particular attention is given to how childrens internal objects are influenced by a compromised early mother-child relationship.

Understanding Maternal Mentalizing Capacity and Attachment Representations of Children With Reactive Attachment Disorder: Two Case Illustrations.

Deprivation and neglect during the early care of a child is known to possibly lead to the development of reactive attachment disorder (RAD). However, subtler influences within the relationship between mother and child have been less explored and defined. This article discusses the relevance of understanding the relationship between the mother’s mentalizing capacity and the child’s attachment representations. Two mother–child dyads of school-age children with RAD inhibited and disinhibited types are used to describe the children’s attachment representations and the mothers’ capacity to mentalize. The 2 cases were drawn from a larger study at the Université de Sherbrooke in collaboration with the Child Psychiatry Department of a general hospital in the Montreal metropolitan area. The mothers’ capacity to mentalize and the children’s attachment representations were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative data. The children’s attachment representations were assessed using the Attachment Focused Coding System (Reiner & Splaun, 2008), as applied to the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990). The mothers’ capacity to mentalize was measured by the Addendum to Reflective Functioning Scoring Manual (Fonagy, Steele, Steele, & Target, 1998) for use with the Parent Development Interview-Revised (Slade, Aber, Berger, Bresgi, & Kaplan, 2005). The relationship between the mother’s mentalizing capacity and the children’s attachment representations are discussed using mentalization theory.

Mothers’ Prementalizing Psychic Functioning and Reactive Attachment Disorder: Two Clinical Cases

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between maternal reflective functioning (MRF) and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) from both a theoretical and clinical perspective. A new scoring system that evaluates the predominance in the mother of prementalizing modes of psychic functioning (psychic equivalence and pretend mode) has been developed and applied to the Parent Development Interview-Revised. The theoretical foundations of this system are presented and its scoring criteria are briefly described. The protocols of two mothers whose children suffer from RAD are analyzed using the RF scoring system (Slade, Bernbach et al., 2005) and the new scoring system developed for this study (Leroux & Terradas, 2012) in order to demonstrate their complementary use. Some theoretical and clinical thoughts about the impact of MRF on the development of RAD are revealed. This being a small-scale exploratory study, further research is needed to establish the psychometric properties of this new coding system.

Empathie, comportements pro-sociaux et troubles du comportement

Resume Les Troubles du comportement (TC) etant de plus en plus presents dans le milieu scolaire, il est primordial de s’attacher aux facteurs qui sont lies a l’apparition ou a la chronicisation de ces troubles. Parmi ces facteurs, cette recherche vise a explorer le role de l’empathie et des comportements pro-sociaux en lien avec les TC. Pour ce faire, cinquante et un garcons âges de 7 a 12 ans et leurs parents ont participe a l’etude. Les enfants ont rempli un questionnaire concernant leur capacite d’empathie. Pour leur part, les parents ont repondu a des questionnaires mesurant les TC, la capacite d’empathie et les comportements pro-sociaux chez leurs enfants. Les resultats suggerent que l’empathie est un facteur lie au bon developpement psychosocial de l’enfant. Ils mettent egalement en relief le role que peuvent jouer les comportements pro-sociaux de l’enfant pour realiser une mediation entre la capacite d’empathie et les TC.