The Intergenerational Transmission of Benevolent Parental Influences" is a very important new contribution by Lieberman, Padro ยดn, Van Horn, and Harris (2005) that expands our understanding of the internal world of the child by reconceptualizing the notion of "ghosts in the nursery." The idea of "ghosts" has become a very meaningful part of the work of infant mental health therapists and interventionists over the years based on the seminal work and insights of Fraiberg, Adelson, and Shapiro (1975). There is rarely a presentation or training related to infant mental health from a psychoanalytic perspective that does not mention the idea of "ghosts" and the role they play in the infant/young child -parent relationship.
I begin my commentary by expanding on the different types of "angels" available for children and families. For example, Lieberman et al. (2005), through their extreme sensitivity to babies and families, especially those at high risk, become something like "guardian angels." In so doing, the authors describe through their insightful case examples how therapists can help clients go beyond the identification of ghosts to also find angels in the lives of high-risk children and their vulnerable, often victimized parents. These angels may have been hidden through defensive mechanisms that they have used to cope with the adversities in their lives. I emphasize therapists as types of angels because a good therapist is someone who can listen to a child or a parent and really hear them in ways that they have never been listened to before. Such "unconditional regard" can often influence the way the parent and/or young child thinks and feels about her-or himself that is then internalized. For the first time, a parent may be able to feel competent as a parent, and in a parallel way, a child who feels responsible, parentified, and bad about her-or himself can develop a more positive internalized image through the relationship with the therapist.
I believe that it also may be helpful to broaden the idea of "angels" by using an applied psychoanalytic perspective to identify and describe those individuals who help children in the settings where they appear. In this way, we can look for and find more ways as well as individuals who can provide support and help bring out the strengths in high-risk children who might otherwise not have those positive opportunities due to the circumstances of their birth.