You are on page 1of 1

17

empathising with the parent and helping them empathise with their child.
Professor David Shemmings is chair of social work at the University of Kent FURTHER READING Baron-Cohen, S (2011) Zero Degrees of Freedom: A new theory of human cruelty, Penguin Books, Allen Lane. Shemmings, D. & Shemmings, Y. (2011) Understanding Disorganised Attachment: Theory and Practice for Working with Children and Families, Jessica Kingsley Press. McCrory, E., De Brito, S. A. & Viding, E. (2010) Research Review: The neurobiology and genetics of maltreatment and adversity, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, no. doi: 10.1111/j.14697610.2010.02271.x (accessed online, February 2010) Forrester, D., Kershaw, S., Moss, H., & Hughes, L. (2007). Communication skills in child protection: how do social workers talk to parents? Child and Family Social Work, 13(1), 41-51. Forrester, D., McCambridge, J., Waissbein, C., & Rollnick, S. (2008). How do child and family social workers talk to parents about child welfare concerns? Child Abuse Review, 17(1), 23-35. Juffer, F., BakermansKranenburg, M., & Van IJzendoorn, M., (2008). Promoting Positive Parenting, And AttachmentBased Intervention. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

y: social workers w erful skill


appreciate and show by our behaviour that we understand that others have different experiences from our own. Here is an example of low mentalisation: A father is feeding his baby son in a supermarket caf with solid food warmed up in the microwave provided. He blows it, licks the bottom of the spoon and feeds it to his son, who immediately winces and screams as it has burned his lip and tongue. Dad scoops some more food out of the hot jar, puts it to his own mouth and says, with irritation and incredulity: Look! Its not hot: Im eating it! He then forces more food into the babys mouth and burns him again. How do we understand such behaviour? Recent discoveries from neurobiology tell us that parents who do such things are likely to show significant under-activity in two areas of the brain: the amygdala and the hippocampus (measured by low electrical activity and blood flow). Each area is known to be involved centrally in regulating and enabling, among other things, mentalisation and empathy. In his recent book Zero Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty, Simon Baron-Cohen outlines how low activity within what he terms the empathy circuit fails to produce fully mentalised responses. Of what relevance is this to social work? What emerges is that low activity in the empathy circuit is more likely to be the result of early caregiving experiences than from a genetic predisposition. But the real breakthrough in research relevant to professional practice is that these areas of the brain can be rewired when workers offer precisely the kind of experience missed during the early years, ie empathy and understanding. Intervention programmes aimed at increasing mentalised experience between parents and their children are proving to be very promising. In these programmes the worker films sessions of a child and parent/ carer interacting. The parent and worker
3 November 2011 www.communitycare.co.uk

children

Brain research shows that mistreatment can damage brain development but also that emphatetic professional engagement can help reverse the damage.

then watch the short films back together and the worker will speak for the child, but only about positive exchanges between parent and child. For example a mother might be playing with her son and she snaps her hand like a crocodile. The child laughs. At that point in the tape the worker might say: I loved that mummy. You made me laugh. You made me happy. This helps the parent see that their child needs them, something they often fail to recognise. But the medium for the change is not that of teaching or showing the parent what to do. It consists almost entirely of

FURTHER INFORMATION
Title Guide to the importance of communication in social work Author Jim Walker, psychotherapist and independent social worker

SCIENCE PICTURE LIBRARY

Not an Inform user?

Visit www.ccinform.co.uk or call Kim Poupart on 0208 652 4848 to find out more about inform

Request a FREE tRial at


www.ccinform.co.uk
www.ccinform.co.uk/Subscribe/ Trial.aspx

COM_031111_016 017 17

27/10/11 16:59:52

You might also like