INTRODUCTION: Maternal representations of the infant can be quite distorted when the infant has a malformation. Within this context, there is a need of psychological interventions aimed at helping parents to adapt their psychic representations with the purpose of avoiding projections and conflicts in order to promote the infant's physical and psychic development. In this sense, the present study investigated the impact of a short-term mother-infant psychotherapy on the maternal representations of the infant's development when the infant had a cardiac malformation. METHODS: The short psychotherapy process (24 sessions) of a mother-infant pair is reported. The authors describe how the issue of life and growth changes throughout treatment. RESULTS: The results evidenced several changes in the maternal representations of the infant, as well as the mother's attitude regarding the search of information on malformation and child care. CONCLUSION: The results emphasize the benefit of short mother-infant psychotherapy for the context of infant's malformation, mainly for the maternal representations of the infant's development.
Malformation; psychotherapy