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General aims. The course aims to present the theoretical and diagnostic orientations of infant mental health, with particular attention to psychodynamic theories of developmental psychopathology, empirical data from Infant Research, and international diagnostic classification systems. Starting from studies on the child-caregiver relationship (the primary focus of the as-sessment) and caregiving contexts, it will delve into the guidelines of developmental psychopathology, major diagnos-tic systems, and specific clinical frameworks characterizing infant mental health, with particular reference to the clas-sification of mental health and developmental disorders in infancy and early childhood according to the PDM-2. It will also cover treatment models and approaches for children and their families, the role of early clinical interventions in preventing or reducing psychopathological risk during infancy. Specific aims Knowledge and understanding Students will need to achieve the following knowledge and understanding: - guidelines of developmental psychopathology; - the contribution of Infant Research to understanding infant mental health; - the processes involved in attuned interaction in the caregiving context, starting from the prenatal period; - the role of relational framework and caregiving context from a transactional perspective of development, emphasizing the role of risk and protective factors (present in the family and the social network) in defining the infant’s developmen-tal trajectories; - the importance of early experiences for personal development; - the impact of risk and protective factors on developmental trajectories; - disturbances and psychopathology in the field of infant mental health; - major manuals and diagnostic procedures, particularly the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual - second edition (PDM-2); - major disorders in infant mental health; - a multifactorial understanding of disorders, in line with a biopsychosocial understanding of developmental disorders and psychopathology; - major treatment models and approaches for infants and their families. Applying knowledge and understanding It is expected that students will achieve the following skills: - utilize a relational perspective of development in assessment and diagnosis in early childhood; - take into account the multiplicity and multifactorial nature of psychopathological disorders and different develop-mental pathways; - master the main diagnostic systems for infancy and early childhood; - critically reflect on the main diagnostic procedures for infancy and early childhood; - use multi-axial assessment tools for the infant-caregiver relationship; - illustrate the family's adaptive emotional functioning profiles that characterize both adaptive development and psy-chopathological risk during infancy and early childhood; - recognize and distinguish the main criteria for diagnosing developmental disorders and psychopathology in infancy and early childhood. Making judgements It is expected that students will achieve the ability to integrate knowledge and manage the complexity of the factors underlying the onset of psychopathology during infancy and early childhood, as well as to formulate hypotheses about understanding developmental pathways considering evolutionary and contextual processes at the origins and course of major developmental disturbances and disorders in infant mental health. Communication skills Students are expected to acquire the specific language for describing basic psychopathological and clinical phenomena in the field of infant mental health. Learning skills At the end of the course, students will have gained a good level of autonomy in critically understanding diagnostic sys-tems concerning infant mental health and interpreting the main developmental psychopathological phenomena. Prerequisites To understand the different diagnostic frameworks and etiopathogenetic processes addressed in the course, it is advis-able to have a preliminary knowledge of psychodynamic theories of development and psychodynamic psychopathol-ogy.