Infant Observation: Creating Transformative Relationships

by Frances Thomson-Salo

Overview

Seminal and representative papers have been chosen to illustrate the vital importance of infant observation in psychoanalytic training, tracing influences on the practice of infant observation and contemporary developments. The book outlines the thinking that has evolved since Esther Bick's introduction of this innovative component in Tavistock child psychotherapy and British Psychoanalytical Society training.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367102395
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/14/2019
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Infant Observation , Introduction to infant observation: an infant’s inner world , Infant observation in psycho-analytic training , Three years infant observation with Esther Bick , A feeding observation: from breast to finger food! , Significant Developments of Infant Observation as a Method within Psychoanalytic Training , The dangers and deprivations of too-good mothering , Premature twins on a neonatal intensive care unit , A therapeutic application of infant observation in child psychiatry 1 , Research in Infant Observation , The shadow of ending: a retrospective qualitative research study of mothers’ experience of infant observation , Problematic Aspects of Infant Observation , On-going physical trauma in an infant observation , The mother–observer relationship: an examination of the participant role of the observer in mother–infant observation , Maternal disavowal in the face of abuse of an infant by her sibling , Developments of the Infant Observation Model , Multiple mothering in an Indian context , Representations of mother in the daughter of a single, gay father , Struggling with cultural prejudice while observing babies: socio-centric and egocentric positions , Afterword

Editorial Reviews

"Babies are designed to pull at our heart strings. So are our theories. This book traces the contribution of infant observation to adult and child psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, recurrently addressing the underpinning question – how to enter imaginatively into the dynamic experience of another, and thoughtfully engage with the impact of unconscious mental content, without either becoming overwhelmed by the powerful feelings aroused or retreating into our own theoretical safe ground to contain these. By setting infant observation within its historical context and tracing its expansion within different psychoanalytic schools of thought across continents, in socio-culturally, linguistically diverse, and increasingly non-traditional family constellations, this volume challenges our complacency."

Professor Joan Raphael-Leff

"This is a rich and enlightening book, both emotionally engaging and scholarly. It builds on previous writings on infant observation, and is superbly more than an edited book. Seminal papers are reproduced but Thomson-Salo’s introductions to each contain her own original thinking. Key points are connected with psychoanalytic and other writers. The reader feels deeply immersed in the experience of, and the thinking about, infant observation. Reading this book is transformative. The book is also challenging. There is a critique of the process; problematic and ethical issues are raised. Teachers and students of infant observation will be re-inspired, other professionals encouraged to take it on. A wider group working with mothers and babies, who do not have the opportunity to do a specific observation, may notice more about the emotions of their clients, and become more aware of and able to deal with the feelings stirred up by their work."

Dr Dilys Daws

"This is a rich and enlightening book, both emotionally engaging and scholarly. It builds on previous writings on infant observation, and is superbly more than an edited book. Seminal papers are reproduced but Thomson-Salo’s introductions to each contain her own original thinking. Key points are connected with psychoanalytic and other writers. The reader feels deeply immersed in the experience of, and the thinking about, infant observation. Reading this book is transformative. The book is also challenging. There is a critique of the process; problematic and ethical issues are raised. Teachers and students of infant observation will be re-inspired, other professionals encouraged to take it on. A wider group working with mothers and babies, who do not have the opportunity to do a specific observation, may notice more about the emotions of their clients, and become more aware of and able to deal with the feelings stirred up by their work."

"Babies are designed to pull at our heart strings. So are our theories. This book traces the contribution of infant observation to adult and child psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, recurrently addressing the underpinning question – how to enter imaginatively into the dynamic experience of another, and thoughtfully engage with the impact of unconscious mental content, without either becoming overwhelmed by the powerful feelings aroused or retreating into our own theoretical safe ground to contain these. By setting infant observation within its historical context and tracing its expansion within different psychoanalytic schools of thought across continents, in socio-culturally, linguistically diverse, and increasingly non-traditional family constellations, this volume challenges our complacency."

From the Publisher