ABSTRACT
This report was commissioned by the Organisation of Economic and Cultural Development (OECD) of the United Nations and was written in partnership with Martha Harris. It has not been published before in English, although it has been in its French, Italian, and Spanish translations. The model it describes is meant to provide guidelines for rationalizing the observation of human behaviour and mental states for the diagnosis of relationships of the child in the family in the community, and for therapeutic uses. This model is borne out of the creative application of psychoanalytic thinking to family processes, and it has specific applications regarding the educational functions of the family.
