The Therapeutic Treatment of a Five-Year-Old Boy With Experience of Early Loss

Donald McC is a young boy who, in his short life, has had to develop in a volatile, unstable environment. He was unplanned and born to a young couple who were neither ready for nor actively seeking parenthood. Mr and Mrs McC's already tenuous marriage broke up within his first year when Mrs McC (an alcoholic), having temporarily stopped drinking, later resumed her dependency. Donald grew up in an atmosphere marked by acrimonious battling between the parents who were unable to resolve their differences over his care, management and discipline. There was recourse to the courts and Donald became (and remains) a Ward of Court with his father now having care and custody since the death of Donald's mother.

For much of his early life Donald was passed between his parents and had no permanent home-base. In his first year Mr McC moved out but took over Donald's care when he felt his child was at risk. At the age of 23 months Donald lived with his father, while mother visited irregularly. Then, at the age of 3, he moved back with his mother. Family tensions also persisted between the maternal grandparents and Mr McC. When Donald was 4 years 6 months old, his mother died in a car crash while on a visit to her sister in Glasgow. Ironically, since then Donald's life has become more stable. He lives with his father in the paternal grandmother's home and regularly sees and stays with his maternal grandparents. There is not much love lost between his father and Donald's maternal grandparents. Mr McC often feels undermined by them. They in turn are critical of him, feeling that his defensiveness prevents them from doing more for their grandson. Nonetheless they have currently worked out, if not a cordial, at least a workable modus vivendi.

Donald's unstable early life and his subsequent loss points to a picture of cumulative trauma. Moreov