ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores theoretical and clinical dimensions of a new psychoanalytic developmental model. It presents their latest work on what they have termed a dual track, two-systems model for conflict resolution and self-regulation. The book explores the complexities of treating children with neuropsychological deficits in the context of individual psychotherapy. It also presents an unusual and finely detailed clinical case involving an eight-year-old girl, Emily, who suffered from attentional deficits, hyperkinesis, associated learning disabilities, and anxiety symptoms. The book focuses on play as a potential space in child psychoanalysis. Many children referred for psychoanalytic treatment, she suggests, have for various reasons failed to develop the capacity of mentalization–the ability to make sense of one’s inner experience and of the actions of others.
