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This issue of the Research Digest is taking a closer look at some of the studies that were used in the recent systematic review and meta-analysis of psychodynamic interventions for children under the age of five and their caregivers.1 For those not familiar with it, this review was commissioned by the ACP and conducted by a team at the Anna Freud Centre led by Dr Michelle Sleed. The meta-analysis of controlled studies found significant intervention effects compared to control conditions across a number of domains, including parental reflective functioning, maternal depression, infant behaviour, and infant attachment. In briefer terms – psychodynamic and psychoanalytic ways of working with infants and their carers were shown to be effective.
The ACP launched this review with an online event in October 2022. Becky Saunders (co-lead of the ACP 0–5 supported clinical network) in her introduction emphasised the importance of this piece of research, which she believes will allow child and adolescent psychotherapists to further understand and make the case for our work. This review was commissioned to help inform our contribution to the policy, service and workforce developments taking place across the UK. Whilst the psychoanalytic community have been pioneers in understanding of the importance of early life, and the significance of early childhood development is now widely accepted, she highlighted what she called an ‘implementation gap’. The Nuffield Trust reported in 2021 that more than one in three (36%) children and families with a child under five living in the UK live in poverty,2 and although good quality perinatal mental health services do exist, with less than 40 in the UK, families face a postcode lottery for services. While this may be in part because of austerity government, Becky also reminded us how difficult the messages contained in this kind of work can be to hear, and act upon, and emphasised our responsibility to advocate on behalf of our patients. The f