ABSTRACT

Developmental Perspectives in Child Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy incorporates recent innovations in developmental theory and research into our understanding of the nature of change in child psychotherapy. Diverse psychoanalytic ideas and individual styles are represented, challenging the historical allegiance in analytic child therapy to particular, and so often singular, schools of thought. Each of the distinguished contributors offers a conceptually grounded and clinically rich account of child development, addressing topics such as refl ective functioning, the role of play, dreaming, trauma and neglect, the development of recognition and mutuality, autism, adoption, and non- binary conceptions of gender. Extended clinical vignettes offer the reader clear vision into the convergence of theory and practice, demonstrating the potential of psychoanalytic psychotherapy to move child development forward. This book will appeal to all practicing mental health professionals.

section I|85 pages

Infant research, reflective functioning, and mutual regulation

chapter 1|14 pages

Being-with

From infancy through philosophy to psychoanalysis

chapter 2|24 pages

How we know how to be with others

Infant–parent psychotherapy for early indicators of autism spectrum disorders

chapter 3|22 pages

Trauma and attachment

Clinical techniques to enhance reflective functioning

chapter 4|23 pages

Neglect and its neglect

Developmental science, psychoanalytic thinking, and countertransference vitality

section II|84 pages

Play, dreaming, and the growth of mind

chapter 7|17 pages

The emergence of the analyst’s childhood

Embodied history and its influence on the dyadic system

chapter 8|23 pages

Theory of mind and therapeutic action

A contemporary Freudian integration

section III|57 pages

Mutuality and the self in relation

chapter 9|16 pages

A child therapist at work

Playing, talking, and the therapist’s inner dialogue 1

chapter 10|24 pages

The origins of relationality

The role of pre- and perinatal experience in the structure, psychopathology, and treatment of the relational self 1

chapter 11|15 pages

“Is this chair alive?”

Interpersonal relating and the beginnings of the self

section IV|46 pages

Reimagining gender

chapter 12|22 pages

What’s your gender?

chapter 13|22 pages

Holding futurity in mind

Therapeutic action in the relational treatment of a transgender girl 1