Despite clear evidence that infant mental health intervention is imperative, mental health services for infants and their caregivers worldwide remain under-prioritised, under-funded, and inaccessible to most populations. South Africa is no exception. This article proposes some potential explanations for this, exploring both practical constraints and possible resistances within the currents of our collective unconscious.
AboudF. E.YousafzaiA. K. (2015). Global health and development in early childhood. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 433–457.
2.
BainK.BaradonT. (2018). Interfacing infant mental health knowledge: Perspectives of South African supervisors supporting lay mother–infant home visitors. Infant Mental Health Journal, 39, 371–384.
3.
BainK.DawsonN.EsterhuizenM.FrostK.PininskiD. (2017). ‘Abazali abazamayo’ (parents who keep on trying): Mothers’ responses to the Ububele Mother-Baby Home Visiting Programme. Early Child Development and Care, 187, 13–34.
4.
BainK.LandmanM.FrostK.Raphael-LeffJ.BaradonT. (2019). Lay counselors: Thoughts on the crossing of ecological frameworks and the use of lay counselors in the scale up of early infant mental health interventions. Infant Mental Health Journal. Advance online publication. 1–15. doi:10.1002/imhj.21814
5.
BainK.RichardsJ. (2016). Mothers’ perinatal and infant mental health knowledge in a Johannesburg township setting. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 28, 71–95.
6.
BaradonT.BainK. (2016). Interfacing infant mental health knowledge systems: Reflections on the narratives of lay home visitors’ experiences of learning and applying relational concepts of development in a South African intervention program. Infant Mental Health Journal, 37, 424–439.
7.
BaraitserL. (2006). Oi mother, keep ye’ hair on! Impossible transformations of maternal subjectivity. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 7, 217–238.
8.
BaraitserL. (2009). Maternal encounters: The ethics of interruption. New York, NY: Routledge.
9.
BarlowJ.BennettC.MidgleyN.LarkinS. K.WeiY. (2016). Parent–infant psychotherapy: A systematic review of the evidence for improving parental and infant mental health. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 34, 464–482.
10.
BenhamA. L.LeikaufJ. E.RomanowiczM. (2017). The need for infant mental health training for all child and adolescent psychiatrists. Academic Psychiatry, 41, 596–600.
11.
BergA. (2003). Beyond the dyad: Parent–infant psychotherapy in a multicultural society – Reflections from a South African perspective. Infant Mental Health Journal, 24, 265–277.
12.
BergA. (2012). Infant-parent psychotherapy at primary care level: Establishment of a service. South African Medical Journal, 102, 582–584.
13.
BhambhaniC.InbanathanA. (2018). Not a mother, yet a woman: Exploring experiences of women opting out of motherhood in India. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 24, 159–182.
14.
BigoV. (2010). The care paradox: Devaluing and idealising care, the mother, and mother nature. International Journal of Green Economics, 4, 117–133.
15.
BirdP.OmarM.DokuV.LundC.NserekoJ. R.MwanzaJ., & MHaPP Research Programme Consortium. (2011). Increasing the priority of mental health in Africa: Findings from qualitative research in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Health Policy and Planning, 26, 357–365.
16.
BlackM. M.WalkerS. P.FernaldL. C.AndersenC. T.DiGirolamoA. M.LuC.. . . Grantham-McGregorS. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: Science through the life course. The Lancet, 389, 77–90.
17.
BrittoP. R.LyeS. J.ProulxK.YousafzaiA. K.MatthewsS. G.VaivadaT.. . . BhuttaZ. A. (2017). Nurturing care: Promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389, 91–102.
18.
BrockingtonI.ButterworthR.Glangeaud-FreudenthalN. (2017). An international position paper on mother-infant (perinatal) mental health, with guidelines for clinical practice. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 20, 113–120.
19.
ButlerJ. (1988). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. Theatre Journal, 40, 519–531.
20.
ChamberlainD. B. (1999). Babies don’t feel pain: A century of denial in medicine. Journal of Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology & Health, 14, 145–168.
21.
ChamberlainD. B. (2014). The sentient prenate: What every parent should know. Journal of Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology & Health, 28, 253–274.
22.
ChodorowN. J. (2004). Psychoanalysis and women: A personal thirty-five-year retrospect. Annual of Psychoanalysis, 32, 101–129.
23.
ChowdharyN.SikanderS.AtifN.SinghN.AhmadI.FuhrD. C.. . . PatelV. (2014). The content and delivery of psychological interventions for perinatal depression by non-specialist health workers in low and middle income countries: A systematic review. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 28, 113–133.
24.
ClementS.SchaumanO.GrahamT.MaggioniF.Evans-LackoS.BezborodovsN.. . . ThornicroftG. (2015). What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychological Medicine, 45, 11–27.
25.
CondonE. M.HollandM. L.SladeA.RedekerN. S.MayesL. C.SadlerL. S. (2019). Maternal adverse childhood experiences, family strengths, and chronic stress in children. Nursing Research, 68, 189–199. doi:10.1097/NNR.0000000000000349
26.
CooperP. J.LandmanM.TomlinsonM.MoltenoC.SwartzL.MurrayL. (2002). Impact of a mother–infant intervention in an indigent peri-urban South African context: Pilot study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 76–81.
27.
DarmstadtG. L.KhanN. Z.LombardiJ.RichterL. M. (2018). Scaling up early childhood development programmes in low and middle-income countries. Child: Care, Health and Development, 44, 1–3.
28.
DewingS.TomlinsonM.le RouxI. M.ChopraM.TsaiA. C. (2013). Food insecurity and its association with co-occurring postnatal depression, hazardous drinking, and suicidality among women in peri-urban South Africa. Journal of Affective Disorders, 150, 460–465.
29.
DugmoreN. (2011). The development of parent-infant/child psychotherapy in South Africa: A review of the history from infancy towards maturity. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 23, 75–90.
30.
FisherJ.MelloM. C. D.PatelV.RahmanA.TranT.HoltonS.HolmesW. (2012). Prevalence and determinants of common perinatal mental disorders in women in low-and lower-middle-income countries: A systematic review. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90, 139–149.
31.
FitzgeraldH. E.WeatherstonD.MannT. L. (2011). Infant mental health: An interdisciplinary framework for early social and emotional development. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 41, 178–182.
32.
FlanaganJ.SchoenS.MillerL. J. (2017). Early identification of sensory processing challenges in infants at risk for sensory processing challenges. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(4, Suppl. 1), 7111515260p1.
33.
Fogiel-BijaouiS. (2013). Babushka in the Holy Land: Being a Russian-Israeli grandmother in Israel today. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 44, 725–739.
34.
FrostK. (2012). The Ububele Baby Mat Project: A community-based parent-infant intervention at primary health care clinics in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. South African Journal of Psychology, 42, 608–616.
35.
GreenF. J. (2015). Re-conceptualising motherhood: Reaching back to move forward. Journal of Family Studies, 21, 196–207.
36.
HerbaC. M.GloverV.RamchandaniP. G.RondonM. B. (2016). Maternal depression and mental health in early childhood: An examination of underlying mechanisms in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3, 983–992.
37.
HollwayW. (2001). From motherhood to maternal subjectivity. International Journal of Critical Psychology, 2, 13–38.
38.
HollwayW. (2016). Feminism, psychology and becoming a mother. Feminism & Psychology, 26, 137–152.
39.
HugoC. J.BoshoffD. E.TrautA.Zungu-DirwayiN.SteinD. J. (2003). Community attitudes toward and knowledge of mental illness in South Africa. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 38, 715–719.
40.
JonesA. (2018). Parent-infant psychotherapy: When feelings of futility are prevalent. In Pozzi-MonzoM.TydemanB. (Eds.), Innovations in parent-infant psychotherapy (pp. 154–176). New York, NY: Routledge.
41.
JungC. G. (2014). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. London: Routledge. (Original work published 1969)
42.
KakumaR.KleintjesS.LundC.DrewN.GreenA.FlisherA. J. (2010). Mental health stigma: What is being done to raise awareness and reduce stigma in South Africa?African Journal of Psychiatry, 13, 116–124.
43.
KessiS.BoonzaierF. (2018). Centre/ing decolonial feminist psychology in Africa. South African Journal of Psychology, 48, 299–309.
44.
Kramers-OlenA. L. (2014). Psychosocial rehabilitation and chronic mental illness: International trends and South African issues. South African Journal of Psychology, 44, 498–513.
45.
KrishnarajM. (2012). Motherhood in India: Glorification without empowerment?Delhi, India: Routledge.
46.
KrugerL.-M. (2003). Narrating motherhood: The transformative potential of individual stories. South African Journal of Psychology, 33, 198–204.
47.
KrugerL.-M. (2006). Motherhood. In BoonzaierF.KiguwaP.SheferT. (Eds.), The gender of psychology (pp. 182–197). Cape Town, South Africa: University of Cape Town Press.
48.
LagercrantzH. (2014). The emergence of consciousness: Science and ethics. Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 19, 300–305.
49.
LagercrantzH.ChangeuxJ. (2009). The emergence of human consciousness: From fetal to neonatal life. Pediatric Research, 65, 255–260.
50.
LancyD. F. (2015). Babies aren’t persons: A survey of delayed personhood. In OttoH.KellerH. (Eds.), Different faces of attachment: Cultural variations of a universal human need (pp. 66–112). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
51.
LeeS.AosS. (2011). Using cost–benefit analysis to understand the value of social interventions. Research on Social Work Practice, 21, 682–688.
52.
LeeS.AosS.DrakeE.PennucciA.MillerM.AndersonL. (2012). Return on investment: Evidence-based options to improve statewide outcomes. Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.
53.
LundC. (2018). Mental health policy in Africa: Gaps, needs and priorities for children and adolescents. In TomlinsonM.HanlonC.StevensonA. (Eds.), Child and adolescent development: An expanded focus on public health in Africa (pp. 24–38). Cape Town, South Africa: University of Cape Town Press.
54.
MakushaT.RichterL. (2018). Fatherhood in the first 1,000 days. In Van den BergW.MakushaT. (Eds.), State of South Africa’s fathers 2018 (pp. 49–63). Cape Town, South Africa: Sonke Gender Justice & Human Sciences Research Council.
55.
MakushaT.Van den BergW.KhozaG.LewaksA. (2019). Engaging South African fathers: The MenCare childcare and protection programme. Pretoria, South Africa: Sonke Gender Justice.
56.
McComishC.BrackettK.KellyM.HallC.WallaceS.PowellV. (2016). Interdisciplinary feeding team: A medical, motor, behavioral approach to complex pediatric feeding problems. The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 41, 230–236.
57.
MilgromJ.EricksenJ.Sved-WilliamsA. (2016). Impact of parental psychiatric illness on infant development. In Sutter-DallayA.Glangeaud-FreudenthalN.GuedeneyA.Riecher-RösslerA. (Eds.), Joint care of parents and infants in perinatal psychiatry (pp. 47–78). London, England: Springer.
58.
OdenwellerK. G.RittenourC. E. (2017). Stereotypes of stay-at-home and working mothers. Southern Communication Journal, 82, 57–72.
59.
PatelV.RahmanA. (2015). Editorial commentary: An agenda for global child mental health. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 20, 3–4.
60.
PetersenI.LundC. (2011). Mental health service delivery in South Africa from 2000 to 2010: One step forward, one step back. South African Medical Journal, 101, 751–757.
61.
PetersenI.MaraisD.AbdulmalikJ.AhujaS.AlemA.ChisholmD.. . . ShidhayeR. (2017). Strengthening mental health system governance in six low-and middle-income countries in Africa and South Asia: Challenges, needs and potential strategies. Health Policy and Planning, 32, 699–709.
62.
PoduvalJ.PoduvalM. (2009). Working mothers: How much working, how much mothers, and where is the womanhood?Mens Sana Monographs, 7, 63–79.
RamanS.NichollsR.RitchieJ.RazeeH.ShafieeS. (2016). How natural is the supernatural? Synthesis of the qualitative literature from low and middle income countries on cultural practices and traditional beliefs influencing the perinatal period. Midwifery, 39, 87–97.
65.
Raphael-LeffJ. (2010). Healthy maternal ambivalence. Psycho-Analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 18, 57–73.
66.
RichterL. M.DaelmansB.LombardiJ.HeymannJ.Lopez-BooF.BehrmanJ. R.. . . BhuttaZ. A. (2017). Investing in the foundation of sustainable development: Pathways to scale for early child development. Lancet, 389, 103–118.
67.
RichterL. M.TomlinsonM.WattK.HuntX.LindlandE. H. (2019). Early means early: Understanding popular understandings of early childhood development in South Africa. Early Years, 39, 295–309.
68.
RodkeyE. N.RiddellR. P. (2013). The infancy of infant pain research: The experimental origins of infant pain denial. The Journal of Pain, 14, 338–350.
69.
RouchouB. (2013). Consequences of infertility in developing countries. Perspectives in Public Health, 133, 174–179.
70.
SampaioF.FeldmanI.Richards-JonesS.MihalopoulosC. (2018). Economic benefits of sustained investments in parenting. In SandersM. R.MorawskaA. (Eds.), Handbook of parenting and child development across the lifespan (pp. 799–820). New York, NY: Springer.
71.
SelinH. (2014). Parenting across cultures. New York, NY: Springer.
72.
SemrauM.Evans-LackoS.KoschorkeM.AshenafiL.ThornicroftG. (2015). Stigma and discrimination related to mental illness in low-and middle-income countries. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 24, 382–394.
73.
SherrL.MacedoA.CluverL. D.MeinckF.SkeenS.HenselsI. S.. . . TomlinsonM. (2017). Parenting, the other oldest profession in the world: A cross-sectional study of parenting and child outcomes in South Africa and Malawi. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 5, 145–165.
74.
ShonkoffJ. P.GarnerA. S.SiegelB. S.DobbinsM. I.EarlsM. F.McGuinnL., . . . Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232–e246.
75.
SimpsonT. E.CondonE.PriceR. M.FinchB. K.SadlerL. S.OrdwayM. R. (2016). Demystifying infant mental health: What the primary care provider needs to know. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 30, 38–48.
76.
SorsdahlK. R.SteinD. J. (2010). Knowledge of and stigma associated with mental disorders in a South African community sample. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 198, 742–747.
77.
SutherlandJ. (2010). Idealization of motherhood. In O’ReillyA. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of motherhood (pp. 544–545). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
78.
TomlinsonM.CooperP.MurrayL. (2005). The mother–infant relationship and infant attachment in a South African peri-urban settlement. Child Development, 76, 1044–1054.
79.
TomlinsonM.O’ConnorM. J.Le RouxI. M.StewartJ.MbewuN.HarwoodJ.Rotheram-BorusM. J. (2014). Multiple risk factors during pregnancy in South Africa: The need for a horizontal approach to perinatal care. Prevention Science, 15, 277–282.
80.
TronickE.ReckC. (2009). Infants of depressed mothers. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 17, 147–156.
81.
Valiquette-TessierS. C.GosselinJ.YoungM.ThomassinK. (2019). A literature review of cultural stereotypes associated with motherhood and fatherhood. Marriage & Family Review, 55, 299–329.