Microanalysis of Parent-Infant Communication with Dr Beatrice Beebe
CPD Credits
2
Event Type
Live Online Event
Location
Zoom & Not Recorded
Time (UK)
3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Standard
£50.00
Trainee/NHS
£42.50
Microanalysis of Parent-Infant Communication with Dr Beatrice Beebe
Friday, January 17, 2025

Microanalysis of Parent-Infant Communication with Dr Beatrice Beebe

Early Relationships and Mental Health Series: Session One

With Dr. Beatrice Beebe, Alice Jacobs Waterfall (Facilitator) & Alison Bruce (Facilitator)

Dr Beebe’s lecture and discussion is the first in our series of talks designed for a wide range of professionals, including parent-infant psychotherapists, child and adolescent psychotherapists, adult and couple psychotherapists, as well as those working with parents and infants in other settings. 

Dr Beatrice Beebe is a developmental/clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst doing research on mother-infant communication. Beebe did her dissertation and postdoctoral research fellowship with Dr. Daniel Stern. She is known for her research on the microanalysis of early infant-parent communication and its implications for attachment and cognition. She is a Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, and the director of the Communications Science Lab at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI).  Her work has helped establish the importance of nonverbal communication in infant development and along with Lachmann its relevance to therapist-patient communication in adult treatment too, a unique and fundamental contribution to the field.

Through the use of video and audio microanalysis of mother-infant face to face communication Beebe directs investigations into the dyadic organisation of mother-infant social communication, the role that maternal distress plays in this communication, the effects of early mother-infant communication patterns on emerging infant attachment styles and cognitive development, and the long-term continuity of communication and attachment styles from infancy to young adulthood. A new focus of the lab is the examination of how prenatal toxic exposures may affect mother-infant communication. 

If you are interested in attending the entire Early Relationships and Mental Health Series please visit the webpage Early Relationships and Mental Health Series-Courses (trtogether.com)

This series is developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Supervision of Parent-Infant Relationships (NCSPIR). NCSPIR offers clinical supervision to practitioners and their supervisors working with parents and infants as part of the UK government’s Family Hubs and Start for Life program, which aims to improve early years services for families with children aged 0 to 2.

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Programme

15.30 Introductions and Housekeeping
15.35 Dr Beatrice Beebe 
Microanalysis of Parent-Infant Communication: How can we see what we don’t see? 

In this talk, Beatrice Beebe will present her pioneering work on microanalysis of parent-infant interactions at 4 months, demonstrating subtle, often unseen communication patterns. Because human nonverbal communication is so fast, many subtle but critical movements cannot be seen by the naked eye in real time. Slowed viewing or frame-by-frame analysis is essential. For example, an infant who looks withdrawn and gaze-avoidant in real time is discovered during the frame-by-frame analysis to be continually reaching for his mother despite looking away. This discovery changes the treatment approach of the mother-infant therapist. Moreover, the insights of microanalysis have allowed us to identify rapid out-of-awareness patterns of communication at 4 months that predict secure vs. disorganized attachment at one year.

Because Dr. Beebe’s films are confidential, they cannot be recorded. Therefore, we urge you to attend this seminar on zoom. There will no circulated recording of this lecture.

17.15 Q&A
17.30 End

Dr. Beatrice Beebe

Dr Beatrice Beebe is a developmental/clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst doing basic research on mother-infant communication. She did her dissertation and postdoctoral research fellowship with Dr. Daniel Stern. She is known for her research on microanalysis of early infant-parent communication and its implications for attachment and cognition. She is a Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, and the director of the Communications Science Lab at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI).  Her work helped established the importance of nonverbal communication in infant development. Beebe and Lachmann have made unique and fundamental contributions in describing the relevance of mother-infant communication for therapist-patient communication in adult treatment. 

She has a YouTube account with documentary films: //youtube.com/@dr.beatricebeebe8658

Alice Jacobs Waterfall

Alice Jacobs Waterfall is the Head of TR Together. A former conference producer, she retrained at Tavistock Relationships, completing their diploma in Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in 2015. She has responsibility for creating and developing TR Together, a TR initiative created to extend and enhance the centre’s continuing professional development offer with a focus on developing new skills and deepening knowledge in community. As Content Director at Confer Alice enjoyed collaborating with many great practitioners across a wide range of modalities and themes and looks to incorporate these valuable insights in to the development of TR Together. 

Alison Bruce

Alison Bruce, is a Child, Adolescent and Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. Alison trained in New York City at NYU (New York University) and subsequently at IPTAR (Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research). She worked for thirteen years at a Child Guidance Center in Brooklyn where she ran a parent infant group. On returning to London in 2015 she worked for five years in a West London CAMHS team and established a parent infant group in the local community, now in its seventh year.  She completed further psychoanalytic training in couples work at Tavistock Relationships where she was subsequently a visiting clinician. Alison has taught, supervised and been infant observation lead for Masters programs at New York and Birkbeck Universities as well as co-led work discussion groups on the parental couple for the Association of Child Psychotherapists. She is currently a seminar lead and tutor for The Tavistock and Portman Trust and is a Supervisor for the National Centre for the Supervision of Parent Infant relationships. She has an independent practice in West London.

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