ABSTRACT
By definition, a psychoanalytic theory of human development attributes considerable importance to infancy and childhood. However psychoanalytic theories may vary in their choice of emphasis, they all see infancy and childhood as crucial phases in human development. This chapter describes and discusses the view of infant observation as a curricular discipline of the analytic training offered by the British Psychoanalytical Society. It helps the student to organize his experience and his growing involvement with the analytic training around a theme and, at the same time, to practise the skill of writing a paper. The chapter also discusses technical and theoretical aspects of the seminars and of the students' work. Emotional involvement with various members of the family will depend on individual characteristics of the student but for most of the students, the main interest lies in working with adults and learning about adult psychopathology.
