Parent-Infant Psychotherapy and Art Therapy: The Treatment of Intergenerational Separation-Individuation Struggles (N/NY-PP6025)
Papers
Linda Siegel, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT
Linda Siegel is a Board Certified and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. She completed her studies in Art Therapy at Pratt Institute and went on to recieve a Certification in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy from the Brooklyn Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, where she was a clinical supervisor and faculty, and on the Board of Directors. She has studied Buddhism and Mindfulness Meditation for over 20 years, and both inform her work as a psychotherapist. She was founder and Director of an Art and Creative Therapy program at an out-patient Substance Abuse program for 15 years and supervised art therapy interns and clinical staff. Ms. Siegel is presently the Director of the Art Therapy Program at Pratt Institute and is a recent graduate in the Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Psychotherapy Program. She has a private practice in Brooklyn, NY.
This paper introduces the use of parent-infant psychotherapy and art therapy in the exploration of a pathological merger. Separation-individuation problems from the birth mother's own mother were exacerbated by the birth of her infant daughter. Incorporating art therapy eventually helped the birth mother overcome her anxiety about being a mother.