Mark Dangerfield

Childhood has long been recognized as a developmental process. This book examines parenting through a similar lens, offering mental health providers a mentalizing framework for working with parents at all stages of parental development. Parenting is a developmental process that fluctuates and transforms throughout the lifespan. To support working with parents, the authors present a mentalizing approach that considers the current socio-cultural environment and its impact on the developmental process of parenting. This approach integrates a wealth of psychodynamic clinical research, theory, and practice. This book provides the reader with principles to inform evaluation, formulation, and treatment in their work with parents. It provides clinical examples followed by clinical formulations offering illustrations of the application of one approach to diverse clinical challenges in the context of working with parents, grandparents, and other caregivers.