ABSTRACT
Diagnosis in the field of infant psychiatry is still at the pre-experimental stage. Such diagnostic schemes as the DSM III are not very useful for infants or parent-infant relationships. Developmental stages are particularly vital in understanding interaction in infancy, when needs and abilities are changing so rapidly. Any reliance of diagnostic considerations on developmental status, however, must be done with caution. Because infants cannot relate their inner states through verbalization or symbolic play, their overt behavior must be scrutinized as an expression of subjective experience. It must be obvious that our model of assessment is based on a complementary pooling of data based on both observation and subjective reports. A complementary approach serves to remind that so-called 'normal' development is fueled by such unconscious forces as anxieties, ambivalence, and conflicts, usually acknowledged only in a pathological context. Normal development and pathology intermesh and interact all the time, and both must be included in any assessment of interaction.
