Searching for Togetherness: The Simultaneous Treatment of a Mother and Her Early Adolescent Daughter

Abstract

Simultaneous treatment involves the separate treatment of parent and child by the same therapist. In this supportive–expressive psychotherapy, the focus of treatment is on the connecting points in the relationship between parent and child that cause each member of the dyad to experience difficulties ranging from enmeshment to alienation. The context provided by the parent–child relationship provides a background for the actual, as well as the potential, identities of each of its members. While transforming elements of this relationship radiate change outward, affecting the larger family unit, facets of the parent–child relationship also affect the inner subjective experience and personality structure of each participant. What characterizes this treatment method is not only external arrangements but also the complex nature of the developing transference–countertransference relationships. The therapist is the nodal point, integrating levels of reality by experiencing and communicating new understandings to each member of the dyad.