FROM THE YOUNG CHILD CLINICAL DISORDER (DC: 0-5TM , AXIS I) TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL CAREGIVING (DC: 0-5TM , AXIS II, PART B) IN THE CONTEXT OF FAMILY THERAPY MULTIGENERATIONAL APPROACH

Abstract

The DC: 0-5TM influences the clinicians to connect the disorder in the child to the specific disorder of a relationship and to the problems in the caregiving environment (AXIS II, Part B). Family Psychotherapy (Andolfi, 2010) shares with Developmental Psychopathology (Davies, Cicchetti, 2004) many assumptions and the possibility of a coherent evaluation and psychotherapy process. The aim of the workshop is to propose an example case study of a 4-year-old girl with an aggressive - hostile relationship with her parents. Her behaviour is linked to an obsessive-compulsive clinical disorder. The case study shows a diagnostic process that considers different levels of observation: child’s characteristics, characteristics of parenting and co-parenting and multi-generation family environment.vA multifactorial evaluation process shows the balance between risk and protective factors considering the child, the parenting and co-parenting and the family stories. After having completed these proceedings, a therapeutic process is presented. By working in three distinct phases, it is possible to interact with parents by supporting them in the strategies of managing the symptomatology of their child and then gradually discover multigenerational family stories that result coherent, both in terms of meaning and function, with the disorder presented through the request for therapeutic aid. The case demonstrates the possibility of partial remission of clinical disorder through a first phase of structural work focused on Caregiving Role Allocation (Minuchin, 1974; DC:0-5TM, 2016). A complete remission of the disorder has been found after the multigenerational clinical work, involving parents and grandmother. DC:0-5TM helps clinicians to attend the diagnostic task keeping in mind the interaction between risk and protective factors in a broad context of family relationships (Cummings, Davies, Campbell, 2000). Mutligenerational family therapy can be considered coherent with this diagnostic method