Applying Developmental Principles to Diagnosis and Treatment of Conflict

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical Center, Westchester Division, White Plains, New York.

Previewing a developmental process derived from caregiver-infant interaction, may offer benefits for adult psychotherapy that are not provided by traditional techniques. The previewing process with infants takes place when the caregiver becomes aware of skills that the infant will soon develop and devises behavioral exercises that introduce the infant to the experience of acquiring those skills.

Using previewing with adults helps the therapist assess the patient’s representations of future events, circumvents defensive operations by orienting the patient to those events, and provides the patient with strategies for coping with potential conflict. As a technique for caregivers who have problematic relationships with their children, previewing may revive patterns of interaction that promote adaptive development.