Treating Parents as Patients: A Clinical Tutorial on Psychodynamic Parenthood Therapy (PPT)

Practice Innovations

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/pri0000311

Dror Oren

Empathy – The Psychological Forum for Counseling, Guidance and Parenting
Therapy (R.A.), Lotem, Israel
Private Practice, Karmiel, Israel

Psychodynamic parenthood therapy (PPT) is a psychodynamic intervention for parental emotional distress, arising through a child’s difficulties, strain in the parent–child
relationship, or disruptions in the parent’s caregiving identity. Unlike traditional parent guidance or other parent-focused approaches that emphasize child outcomes, PPT is an
integrative psychodynamic modality that, when assessment reveals primary unprocessed parental distress, shifts the therapeutic focus to the parent as patient, even in child-referred
cases. Drawing on psychodynamic, object relations, and systemic perspectives, PPT systematically explores the parent’s inner world. The model is adaptable for brief or
extended courses; ideally both parents participate, yet it can be conducted with a single parent when necessary. This article presents the model’s rationale, core principles, and
clinical indications and illustrates application through a primary case vignette and a supplementary example. By framing parenthood as both a profound emotional challenge
and a channel for psychological growth, PPT broadens parent-focused interventions and legitimizes the parent’s subjective experience as a primary target of psychotherapeutic
care.

Clinical Impact Statement
Seeing the parent as the patient can enhance both the parent and the experience of
parenthood in all its aspects. The article presents a focused psychodynamic way to
work directly with the parent, often leading to meaningful improvements and to
beneficial ripple effects for the child and the family as a whole.

Keywords: parenting therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, parenthood, parental distress, intergenerational processes