ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the teaching of psychoanalytic infant observation introduced to the Tavistock Clinic by Esther Bick in the 1940s and more recent multidisciplinary applications of this way of learning, underpinned by a search for psychological meaning in the earliest stages of life. Therapeutic observation is introduced as a clinical intervention that applies the principles of psychoanalytic infant observation to contexts where there are concerns about development, relationships with primary caregivers, or the impact of an impending transition. The chapter also discusses the learning for clinicians from observation-based ways of working and reviews the applications of therapeutic observation in medical contexts, with premature babies, young children at risk of autism, young children living in institutions, and babies and young children who are the subject of care proceedings.
