This book has the hard task to cover an interdisciplinary area in which psychoanalysis has to deal with infant research. The development of infant research methodologies is illustrated in the present book by the contribution written by Beatrice Beebe, whose 'journey' leads us through the 'creating' of a discipline with its creators, her traveling companions, such as Daniel Stern, Frank Lachmann, Joseph Jaffe and many others. Trevarthen's chapter is a discussion of his work with T. Berry Brazelton, passed away on March 2018. Brazelton used his trust and enjoyment of innocent company to greet a newborn infant as a friend, and he showed that the baby is read to share friendship with mother and father, giving them joy. Brazelton's belief in innate human nature transformed pediatric care and early diagnosis of developmental disorders, guiding treatment, not 'of' the baby, but 'with' him/her as an individual with unique expressions of vitality. The last two chapters, instead, deal with clinical implications of infant research. Tronick's contribution focuses on mother-infant dyad as well as on analyst-patient one, conceived as open dynamic systems, capable of meaning making, in which coherence is at best imperfect, and coordination alternates with mismatching. In open dynamic systems messiness itself is inherent to the process of meaning making because of limitations in their capacity, their different time scales, the many polymorphs of meaning that have to be integrated, and because of the many kinds of meaning making processes (including affective, cognitive, memorial, linguistic, bodily and psychodynamic meaning making processes, such as a dynamic unconscious, projective identification and transference). Dyadic states of consciousness Tronick writes in the chapter are joint creations and, as such, bring together the messy, unpredictable and inchoate features of two individuals' state of consciousness, not just the messiness of one. But meaning meaning processes and security making ones, though normally overlapping each other, are not the same, and this heterogeneity between motivational systems (Lichtenberg et al., 2011) can cover the heterogeneity of psychopathological conditions. Lyons-Ruth and colleagues' chapter is focused on the representational world of the mother, particularly on the assessment of mother's representation of role-confusion in her relation with her child. The authors call attention to the dimension of sexualisation in the relationship, a high indicator of role-confusion. This emerging body of work points to the importance of being alert to indicators of role-confusion in the clinical setting. The findings can inform and enrich counselling and psychology practice by familiarizing clinicians with how to listen for indicators of role-confusion while talking with parents about their relationship with the child.

Lichtenberg collates and summarizes recent findings about the first two years of life in order to examine their implications for contemporary psychoanalysis. He explores the implications of these data for the unfolding sense of self, and then draws on these data to reconceptualize the analytic situation and to formulate an experiential account of the therapeutic action of analysis.

Infant Research and Adult Treatment is the first synoptic rendering of Beatrice Beebe’s and Frank Lachmann’s impressive body of work. Therapists unfamiliar with current research findings will find here a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of infant competencies. These competencies give rise to presymbolic representations that are best understood from the standpoint of a systems view of interaction. It is through this conceptual window that the underpinnings of the psychoanalytic situation, especially the ways in which both patient and therapist find and use strategies for preserving and transforming self-organization in a dialogic context, emerge with new clarity. They not only show how their understanding of treatment has evolved, but illustrate this process through detailed descriptions of clinical work with long-term patients. Throughout, they demonstrate how participation in the dyadic interaction reorganizes intrapsychic and relational processes in analyst and patient alike, and in ways both consonant with, and different from, what is observed in adult-infant interactions. Of special note is their creative formulation of the principles of ongoing regulation; disruption and repair; and heightened affective moments. These principles, which describe crucial facets of the basic patterning of self-organization and its transformation in early life, provide clinical leverage for initiating and sustaining a therapeutic process with difficult to reach patients. This book provides a bridge from the phenomenology of self psychological, relational, and intersubjective approaches to a systems theoretical understanding that is consistent with recent developments in psychoanalytic therapy and amenable to further clinical investigation. Both as reference work and teaching tool, as research-grounded theorizing and clinically relevant synthesis, Infant Research and Adult Treatment is destined to be a permanent addition to every thoughtful clinician's bookshelf.

Psychoanalytic infant observation is frequently used in training psychoanalytic psychotherapists and allied professionals, but increasingly its value as a research method is being recognised, particularly in understanding developmental processes in vulnerable individuals and groups. This book explores the scope of this approach and discusses its strengths and limitations from a methodological and philosophical point of view. Infant Observation and Research uses detailed case studies to demonstrate the research potential of the infant observation method. Divided into three sections this book covers infant observation as part of the learning process how infant observation can inform understanding and influence practice psychoanalytic infant observation and other methodologies. Throughout the book, Cathy Urwin, Janine Sternberg and their contributors introduce the reader to the nature and value of psychoanalytic infant observation and its range of application. This book will therefore interest a range of mental health practitioners concerned with early development and infants' emotional relationships, as well as academics and researchers in the social sciences and humanities.

Few topics elicit greater controversy within psychoanalysis today than the role of research in justifying or expanding upon analytic theory. The text collects papers from a London conference, along with additional material, to explore the work of discussants Daniel Stern and Andre Green. Stern, whose work and psychoanalysis and infant observation is world-renowned, and Green, the French psychoanalyst whose trenchant views on the limitations of research are equally well known, each focus on the issue of infant research and its long history within the psychoanalytic movement.Additional discussions by three prominent British psychoanalysts, Anne Alvarez, Irma Brenman Pick, and Rozine Jozef Perelberg, expose a different point of view from that of green and Stern. Also included is a previous debate on this topic between Andre Green and Robert S. Wallerstein, former president of the International Psychoanalytic Association. An illuminating introductory chapter by Riccardo Steiner further describes the main points of the debate with marvelous clarity. This book will be invaluable for all those who wish to involve themselves with contemporary views on this important topic.

The Practice of Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy is a comprehensive handbook, addressing the provision of therapeutic help for babies and their parents when their attachment relationship is troubled and a risk is posed to the baby's development. Drawing on clinical and research data from neuroscience, attachment and psychoanalysis, the book presents a clinical treatment approach that is up-to-date, flexible and sophisticated, whilst also being clear and easy to understand. The first section: The theory of psychoanalytic parent infant psychotherapy – offers the reader a theoretical framework for understanding the emotional-interactional environment within which infant development takes place. The second section, The therapeutic process, invites the reader into the consulting room to participate in a detailed examination of the relational process in the clinical encounter. The third section, Clinical papers, provides case material to illustrate the unfolding of the therapeutic process. This new edition draws on evidence from contemporary research, with new material on: Embodied communication between parent and infant and clinician-patient/s Fathers and fathering Engagement of at-risk populations Written by a team of experienced clinicians, writers, teachers and researchers in the field of infant development and psychopathology, The Practice of Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy will be an essential resource for all professionals working with children and their families, including child psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and clinical and developmental psychologists.

An examination of adults who have been manipulated by divorcing parents. Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) occurs when divorcing parents use children as pawns, trying to turn the child against the other parent. This book examines the impact of PAS on adults and offers strategies and hope for dealing with the long-term effects.

Winner of the 2004 Gradiva Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. The issue of shame has become a central topic for many writers and therapists in recent years, but it is debatable how much real understanding of this powerful and pervasive emotion we have achieved. Mother-Infant Attachment and Psychoanalysis argues that shame can develop during the first six months of life through an unreflected look in the mother's eyes, and that this shame is then internalised by the infant and reverberates through its later life. The author further expands on this concept of the look through a powerful and extensive study of the concept of the Evil Eye, an enduring universal belief that eyes have the power to inflict injury. Finally, she presents ways of healing shame within a clinical setting, and provides a fascinating analysis of the role of eye-contact in the therapeutic encounter. This book brings together a unique blend of theoretical interpretations of shame with clinical studies, and integrates major concepts from psychoanalysis, Jungian analysis, developmental psychology and anthropology. The result is a broad understanding of shame and a real understanding of why it may underlie a wide range of clinical disorders.

With new discussions by Theodore Jacobs and Regina Pally Adult psychoanalysis has approached the study of intersubjectivity by concentrating primarily on the verbal dialogue, an explicit mode of communication. Infant research, on the other hand, focuses on nonverbal communication and implicit modes of action sequences, operating largely out of awareness, such as interactions of gaze, facial expression, and body rhythms. This book proposes that an integration of these two approaches is essential to a deeper understanding of the therapeutic action. The authors use a dyadic systems model of self- and interactive regulation as a lens for comparing diverse theories of intersubjectivity, both in adults and infants. Building on the definition of intersubjectivity in infancy as correspondence and matching of expressions, the authors offer an expanded view of the presymbolic origins of intersubjectivity. They address the place of interactive regulation, problems with the concept of matching, the roles of self-regulation and of difference, and the balance of self- and interactive regulation. An adult treatment of early trauma is described through detailed clinical case material illustrating both the verbal narrative and the implicit "action dialogue" operating largely outside of awareness. This book includes new discussions by Theodore Jacobs, arguing that nonverbal communication is vitally important to psychoanalysis, and by Regina Pally, arguing that aspects of this book have parallels in neuroscience.

Psychoanalytic Therapy with Infants and Parents provides a clear guide to clinical psychoanalytic work with distressed babies and unhappy parents, a numerous clinical group so often in need of urgent help. Although psychoanalytic work is primarily verbal, and infants may have limited language, this form of treatment is receiving increased attention among therapists. Björn Salomonsson explores how such work can be possible and benefit infants, how to work with the parents (especially the mother), and how major psychoanalytic concepts such as primal repression, infantile sexuality and transference can be worked with and understood in these therapies. Björn Salomonsson argues that attachment concepts, though important, cannot solely help explain everyday problems with breastfeeding, sleeping, and weaning, or more recalcitrant interaction disorders. He shows how we also need psychoanalytic concepts to better understand, not only such "baby worries", but also adult clients' non-verbal communications and interactions. Throughout, he uses extensive practice-based examples and also refers to his research which provides evidence for the effectiveness of this practice. Psychoanalytic Therapy with Infants and Parents provides a unique perspective on working psychoanalytically with parents and infants. This book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts and therapists working with children as well as adults.