Infant mental health, Part 2: Interventions for some clinical disorders

Last month, Part 1 of this theme issue provided an overview of some important clinical issues in infant mental health. Clinicians discussed the conceptual basis of attachmentcommunity-based carepostpartum depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder . This month, Part 2 provides some suggestions for specific clinical interventions. Carolyn Steinberg addresses the important topic of feeding difficulties in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Then, Pratibha Reebye and Terry Kope examine the clinical resources available for an infant with less than optimal attachment experiences. Finally, Pratibha Reebye and Aileen Stalker examine difficulties related to a child’s extreme sensitivity to sensory experiences. All three articles look at contributions from both parent and child to infant mental health, paying attention to the unique characteristics of each relational partner.

Infant mental health is clearly a multidisciplinary field. The broad range of clinicians who have written articles for Parts 1 and 2 illustrate this. The issues include contributions from those working in the fields of pediatrics, child psychiatry, occupational therapy, and child and family therapy. Others who might have contributed can be found providing care to young children and their families in the fields of nursing, social work, psychology, speech and language pathology, and early childhood education. A great deal of training occurs on the job, since British Columbia (unlike Ontario,[1] for example) does not offer a formal training program for infant mental health workers. 

In most cases, parents certainly want to do their best. This makes working in the area of infant mental health very rewarding, as parents are usually grateful for professionals who support them in developing mutually enjoyable relationships with their young children.[2] We hope that with the implementation of the Child and Youth Mental Health Plan[3] resources throughout the province we will see infant mental health services expanded so that required services are available to all families. To help physicians locate suitable resources, we are including a Community Resources List (Table Page 1Page 2).

Just as working with infants and families requires a collaborative effort, so did the compilation of these articles. We could like to thank our colleagues and the editorial staff at the BCMJ for their work, patience, and support. We would also like to acknowledge the role of Dr Hira Panikkar, who pioneered infant mental health services in the province and was a mentor and dear friend to many of the contributing authors. Hira passed away almost 5 years ago; her memory continues to inspire us.

—Terry Kope, MD, FRCPC
Clinical assistant professor, University of British Columbia
Psychiatric consultant, Alan Cashmore Centre, Vancouver Community Mental Health Services

—Pamela S. Lansky, MA, MEd, RCC
Clinical counselor
Burnaby Family Life Institute
Pacific Post Partum Support Society


References

1. Hospital for Sick Children. Certificate in infant mental health. 2006. www.sickkids.ca/imp/section.asp?s=Certificate+in+Infant+Mental+Health&sID=7512 (accessed 12 December 2006). 
2. Stern D. Introduction to the special issue on early preventive intervention and home visiting. Infant Ment Health J 2006;27:1-3.
3. Ministry of Children and Family Development. Child and youth mental health plan. 2003. www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/mental_health/mh_publications/cymh_plan.htm (accessed 12 December 2006).

Teresa Marie Kope, MD, FRCPC, Pamela S. Lansky, MA, MEd, RCC,. Infant mental health, Part 2: Interventions for some clinical disorders. BCMJ, Vol. 49, No. 4, May, 2007, Page(s) 180-182 - Clinical Articles.



Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

Leave a Reply