Helping Parents Spare the Rod: Addressing Their Unbearable Emotions
Abstract
In this paper we review some of the literature on spanking, with an emphasis on its well-documented, negative sequalae. We discuss how clinicians need to appreciate that for both parents and children, fear and other unpleasant feeling states and a poor sense of themselves leads to a sense of vulnerability. This vulnerability is defended against by acting inappropriately powerful: disruption by the child and counteracting the child’s aggression with physical punishment by the parent. Empathizing with the parent’s sense of vulnerability can help the parents appreciate the child’s sense of vulnerability and minimize corporal punishment. A clinical example illustrates this perspective.
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Only two recent articles report on individual, couple, and group treatments focused on mentalization with abusive parents.
“Only two recent articles [69,70] report on individual, couple, and group treatments focused on mentalization with abusive parents.”
From Psychoanalytic Interventions with Abusive Parents: An Opportunity for Children’s Mental Health (2022) · cites this paper as [69]
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Psychoanalytic Interventions with Abusive Parents: An Opportunity for Children’s Mental Health
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“Hoffman, L.; Prout, T.A. Helping Parents Spare the Rod: Addressing Their Unbearable Emotions.”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Hoffman, L., & Prout, T. A.
- Affiliations
- New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (US)
- Yeshiva University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hoffman, Leon
- Venue
- The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-01
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 46-61
- ISSN
- 0079-7308 (ISSN-L)
- 2474-3356
- OpenAlex
- W3013517570
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- spanking, corporal punishment, parental emotions, fear, vulnerability, countertransference, empathy, child aggression, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, parent-child relationship
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