Biography

Dr. Jeanne Magagna is a Child, Adult and Family Psychotherapist who trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London. She was Head of Psychotherapy Services at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London  for 24 years.  Jeanne currently teaches on the Tavistock M.A. Programme of Observational Studies in Centro Studi Martha Harris in Florence, Italy.  Her publications (in various languages)  include editing or jointly editing: Intimate Transformations: Babies with Their Families, Being Present for Your Nursery Age Child, The Silent Child: Communication without Words, Psychotherapy with Families, Creativity and Psychotic States and  Universals of Psychoanalysis., Contemporary Child Psychotherapy.   She also wrote A Psychotherapeutic Understanding of Eating Disorders in Children and Young People and many articles on infant observation including Three Years of Infant Observation with Esther Bick.  She teaches, publishes and works therapeutically internationally.

Abstract

This presentation will describe critical issues to consider when a child is admitted and especially re-admitted to the paediatric ward. Clinical examples will be presented.  These will include discussion of Pervasive Avoidance Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS), fictitious  illness. The essential creation of a multidisciplinary team to reflect upon the body’s illness and the messages it conveys about the child’s genes and  relationships with the family and others  is crucial to a well-functioning paediatric unit.  There will be a delineation of some important interventions in various international paediatric teams. The shared training for the multidisciplinary team of doctors, psychologists and nurses  from the Italian Hospital in Argentina and the Bristol Report regarding the importance of a coordinator of integrating specialist interventions with complex illnesses will be discussed. Non-negotiables for the child’s hospitalisation  alongside family observations will be described. Enabling an ill child to progress developmentally during long-stay hospitalisations will be described using experiences in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. The link between the psychiatric team and the paediatric team will also be considered.