Björn Salomonsson, MD and Assoc. Prof., 2024
/Combining training in psychoanalysis and research, Dr. Salomonsson’s work improves the early life of distressed babies by profoundly refining psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy (PIP) methodology. His work introduced psychoanalytic techniques working directly with child health nurses who previously had little exposure to psychoanalysis, introducing an understanding of the infant’s and parents’ experience with troubled relationships. Today, PIP is viewed as highly relevant for every analyst.
Salomonsson’s research contributions focus on the psychic life of young children in their formative years. Notably, he is able to convey his findings to professionals and lay people through videos and other tools in an empirically comprehensible way. HIs outstanding work has strengthened links between clinical practice and psychoanalytic theory, provided detailed clinical vignettes, used video-recorded therapies to better explicate the clinical process, evaluated therapies quantitatively and anchored research academically. In his book Psychodynamic Interventions in Pregnancy and Infancy (2018), Salomonsson systematically describes how during psychoanalytic therapy actively engaging the infant, the therapist can practice therapies beyond the one-to-one and deliver a multi-relationship-based psychoanalytic therapy model.
Salomonsson now teaches at the Swedish Psychoanalytic Institute on infant sexuality, developmental theories, parent-infant psychotherapy, and nonverbal communication. He also co-founded The A Primo Foundation, with successful courses for nurses, midwives and psychologists in Maternity Units and Child Health Centers.