Emotional availability in infant psychiatry.

In a child psychiatric population, 68 mother-child pairs were observed, with children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 3 years 10 months. The children were diagnosed using the Zero to Three DC 0-3 guidelines (Zero-to-Three, 1998). Each dyad also was rated in terms of the intensity of recommended therapeutic measures upon intake at our clinic. Following videotaping of parent-child interactions, the dyads were rated for emotional availability using the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS; Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1998). The group with feeding disorders showed the lowest EAS ratings. The group with regulation disorders (sleeping and crying disorders) had the highest ratings followed by the group with externalizing disorders (motor disorganized and/or aggressive behavior) and attachment disorders. Further, the lower the EAS ratings, the higher the intensity of recommended treatments for the family. These findings indicate the importance of standardized observing of parent-child interactions in infant psychiatric disorders. Some clinical impressions regarding the work with the EAS also are described.