Mental health articles

Infant mental health is a multidisciplinary field of research and clinical practice. It is an area of rapidly expanding knowledge and of innovation in clinical interventions. At its core is recognition that infancy is a foundational developmental period, physically, psychologically and socially, that infant development occurs within the context of key caregiving relationships, and that infants have abilities, drives, wants and needs but also rights, just as more verbal older children and adults do. Infants communicate in many ways and despite their obvious vulnerability have an extraordinary capacity to adapt and to make the best of what is provided to them. Infant mental health as a field of clinical research and practice is concerned with understanding those factors that allow and facilitate optimal development, and with developing the range of interventions that mitigate against the physical, emotional and social risks experienced by some infants and their families.

Tags: Health, Mental health