Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents an updated account of the work on brothers and sisters by three great pioneers in psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and Anna Freud. It considers the contributions to people's understanding of siblings from developmental research, systemic family therapy, and attachment theory. The book explores through infant observation and clinical work with children and young people the ways in which sibling relationships can be illuminated by psychoanalytic and systemic approaches, as well as through developmental psychology. It aims to stress the importance of multidisciplinary thinking and to encourage further an interface between psychoanalytic thinking and other disciplines. The book explores the complex nature of sibling relationships and how these are shaped by both conscious and unconscious processes. It looks at the complex sibling issues in the context of divorce and siblings taken into care.