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Western Branch
Canadian Psychoanalytic Society
Finding the
Infant in Infant Observation:
In the infant; in the mother; in the
family; in the observer; in the therapist
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Preamble
The
course will provide the opportunity to develop skills in observing
emotional experience, including the ability to take in the whole picture
and understand its meaning. It will also be an opportunity to learn
about infantile states of mind, and the forming of an object
relation. Students will be able to compare their observations with
those of peers.
In keeping with the Tavistock
model, the course is meant to help develop the necessary abilities for
doing psychoanalytic work: "free-floating attention",
"neutrality", "containment", and observation of
detail. The student will learn more about non-verbal communication
and the meaning of play. Finally this course can help sensitize
students to primitive mental states, and to recognize the infantile
experience in every patient.
The course has a strong experiential component.
Each participant will have the opportunity to carry out one hour of
direct observation of a mother and infant, the description of which he or
she will bring to an infant observation seminar for discussion. The
infant observation seminar will take place in the clinical segment in
lieu of adult psychotherapy case presentations. Prior to beginning the
infant observations, participants will review the method of infant
observation as developed by Esther Bick at the Tavistock
Clinic. In the didactic segments, papers on early infantile processes and
the maternal function will be discussed. However, because the course is
meant to be as experiential as possible, most classes will include a
paper that verses on an actual infant observation. A central focus of the
course is the development of our understanding of infantile states. As
the title suggests, these states are not only to be found in the infant,
but also in the mother, the family, the observer, or the therapist. The
observer/therapist encounters these states in his or her own countertransference when faced with both the
anxieties and beauty in the mother-infant couple. Parallels will be drawn
between infant observation and psychoanalytic psychotherapy with patients
in primitive states.
Learning Objectives:
1. Participants
will have the opportunity to develop the necessary abilities for doing
psychoanalytic psychotherapy: “free floating attention”, “neutrality”,
“containment”, and “observation of detail”.
2. Participants
will have the opportunity to develop skills in observing emotional
experience, including the ability to take in the whole picture and
understand its meaning.
3. Participants
will have the opportunity to learn about infantile states of mind, and
the forming of an object relation.
4. Participants
will have the opportunity to become sensitized to primitive mental
states, and to recognize the infantile experience in every patient.
5. Participants
will have the opportunity to be the observer of the intimacy in a
mother-infant couple and to compare their observations with those of
their peers.
Students will also be required to
purchase the following text:
Miller, L., Rustin,
M and M., Shuttleworth, J. Editors. (1989) Closely
Observed Infants. London: Redwood Press
Limited.
NOTE: Some of the readings have been copied
from the Psychoanalytic Electronic Publication (PEP). When papers are
copied from the PEP they tend to have an odd format with footnotes
inserted in between sentences. We have tried to clean the format up so
that the papers can be read more easily. In so doing we have created our
own number sequence of pages that may appear different than the page
numbers in the article citation. We have noted this next to the readings
so as to avoid confusion.
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Course Outline:
I.
Introduction to infant observation:
Clinical segment:
Observation Observed (2002): a
videotape by Margaret Rustin on the process of infant
observation and the infant observation seminar.
Didactic segment:
Bick, E. (1964) Notes on Infant
Observation in Psycho-Analytic Training. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 45:558-566
(PEP pp. 1-12)
Harris, Martha: “The Contribution of
Mother-Infant Interaction and Development to the Equipment of a
Psychoanalyst or Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.”
Supplementary reading
Rustin, M.:
“Encountering Primitive Anxieties.” In Closely Observed Infants. pp. 7-21.
II.
Infant development: Kleinian and Attachment Theory Perspectives:
Clinical segment:
Further discussion of the method of
infant observation.
Brafman,
A.H.(1988). Infant Observation. Int. R. Psycho-Anal. 13:45-59. (PEP
pp. 1-17).
Didactic segment:
Shuttleworth, Judy:
“Psychoanalytic theory and infant development: A Kleinian
perspective.” Closely Observed
Infants. pp. 22-51.
Supplementary reading
Fonagy, Peter: “Key
findings in attachment research.” In
Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis. pp. 19-52.
III.
The earliest infantile states: newborn
anxieties:
Clinical
segment: Infant
observation seminar.
Didactic segment:
Case of Rosa: Closely Observed Infants. pp.
135-147.
Bick, E. (1986)
Further Considerations of the Function of the Skin in Early Object
Relations. British Journal of Psychotherapy,
2,4: 292-299.
Mitrani, J. (1995)
Toward an understanding of Unmentalized
Experience. Psychoanalytic
Quarterly, LXIV: 68-112. (PEP pp. 1-28)
IV.
Maternal holding:
Clinical
segment: Infant
observation seminar.
Didactic segment:
Case of Eric: Closely Observed Infants. pp. 79-100. The first born child’s
impact on the family and the importance of the father’s arms around
holding in enabling the relationship in the mother-infant couple to
develop.
Winnicott, D.: Primary
Maternal Preoccupation. In Through
Pediatrics to Psychoanalysis, pp. 300-305.
Piontelli, A. (1988)
Pre-Natal Life and Birth as Reflected in the Analysis of a 2-Year-Old
Psychotic Girl. Int. R. Psycho-Anal., 15:73-81 (PEP pp.1-10)
Supplementary reading:
Winnicott, D.: A theory
of parent/infant relationships. In The
Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment. pp. 37-55
V.
The containing process:
Clinical
segment: Infant
observation seminar:
Didactic Segment:
Case of Steven: Closely Observed Infants. Describes a mother infant
relationship that develops around bodily care in lieu of the mother’s
capacity to mentalize the infant’s emotional
needs. pp. 163-175.
Sorenson, P.: “Thoughts on the
containing process from the perspective of infant/mother relations.” Developments in Infant Observation.
pp. 113-122.
Supplementary reading:
Caper, Robert. “A theory of the
container.” In A Mind of One’s Own.
pp. 138-155.
VI.
The role of relationships in the
development of a sense of self:
Clinical
Segment: Infant
observation seminar:
Didactic Segment:
Grier, Francis. “Amanda: Observations
and reflections of a bottle fed baby who found a breast mother.” Intl. J.
of Infant Observation. Vol. 4. No. 1. Autumn, 2000. pp. 42-66.
Piontelli, A. (1987).
“Infant Observation, from before birth.” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 68: 453-463. (PEP
pp. 1-13)
VII.
Development from a sense of oneness to
a sense of two-ness: the depressive position:
Clinical
Segment: Infant
observation seminar:
Didactic segment:
Case of Andrew: Closely Observed Infants. Illustrates the baby’s movement
from oneness to a sense of the other. pp. 118-134.
Winnicott, D.W. “The
Depressive Position in Normal Emotional
Development.” In Collected Papers
of D.W. Winnicott. pp. 262-277.
VIII. Fantasies of
damage and reparation:
Clinical
segment: Infant
observation seminar:
Didactic Segment:
Target, Mary. ‘The little vandal’:
fantasies of damage and reparation in the mother-baby relationship. Intl.
J. of Infant Observation. Vol. 4. No 1. Autumn, 2000. pp. 102-119.
Harris, M. (1975) Some notes on
maternal containment in good enough mothering. Journal of Child Psychotherapy 4: 35-51.
IX.
The three person relationship or the
early oedipal situation:
Clinical
segment: Infant
observation seminar.
Didactic segment:
Burhouse, Anne. “Now we
are two, going on
three”.
International Journal of Infant Observation. Vol. 4. No. 2. Spring, 2001.
pp. 51-67.
Klein, Melanie, “The Oedipus Complex
in the light of early anxieties” in The
Writings of Melanie Klein, 1921-1945. pp.
Britton, R. “Subjectivity,
objectivity, and triangular space.” In Belief and Imagination. pp. 41-58.
X.
The impact of the working mother on
the mother-infant relationship:
Clinical
segment: Infant observation
seminar:
Didactic segment:
Wolf, Elizabeth. An infant’s
engagement with a variably unavailable mother. Intl. J. of Infant
Observation. Vol. 4. No. 1. Autumn, 2000. pp. 67-83.
Joseph, B. (1981) “Towards the
experiencing of psychic pain.” In Psychic
Equilibrium and Psychic Change. pp.88-97.
XI.
Signs which point to referral:
Clinical
segment: Infant
observation seminar:
Didactic segment:
Case of Harry: Closely Observed Infants. pp. 148-162.
Briggs, S. “Observing when infants are
at potential risk.” Developments in
Infant Observation. pp. 207-227.
Negri, R. “The
Psychosomatic Syndrome” and “The Psychotic Infant”: In The Newborn in the Intensive Care Unit.
pp. 169-174 and 164-174
XII.
The impact of infant observation on
the families observed:
Clinical segment: Faculty/student
meeting
Didactic segment:
Oliver: Closely Observed Infants. Father displaces his feeling of
rivalry toward his son onto a male infant observer. pp. 176-186.
Diem-Wille, Gertraud. “Observed families revisited-two years on.”
Developments in Infant Observation.
pp. 182-206.
Rustin, Margaret.
“Becoming a mother: reflections from a clinical and observational
standpoint”. Unpublished paper presented at The Frontiers II Conference, Seattle, 2002. pp.
1-11.
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Bibliography
_Bick, E. (1986)
“Further Considerations of the Function of the Skin in Early Object
Relations.” British Journal of Psychotherapy, 2, 4: 292-299.
_Bick, E. (1964) “Notes on Infant
Observation in Psycho-Analytic Training”. Int. J. Psycho-Anal. pp.
45:558-566
_Britton, R. (1998). Belief and
Imagination. London, New York: Routledge, 1998.
_Caper, R. (1999). A Mind of
One’s Own. London, New York: Routledge.
_Fonagy, P.
(2001). Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis. New York: Other Press.
_Harris, Martha: “The Contribution of
Mother-Infant Interaction and
Development to the
Equipment of a Psychoanalyst or Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.”
_Joseph, Betty. (1989). Psychic
Equilibrium and Psychic Change. London, New York: Routledge.
_Klein, Melanie, “The Oedipus Complex
in the Light of Early Anxieties” in The Writings of Melanie Klein, 1921-1945.
_Miller, L., Rustin, M and M., Shuttleworth,
J. Editors. (1989) Closely Observed Infants. London: Redwood Press
Limited.
_Miller, L.
Edit. Infant Observation: The International Journal of Infant
Observations and its Applications. Vol. 4.No. 1 (Autumn 2000) and
Vol. 4. No.2 . (Spring 2001).
_Mitrani, J. (1995) Toward an understanding of
Unmentalized Experience. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, LXIV: 68-112.
_Piontelli, A. (1988) Pre-Natal Life and Birth
as Reflected in the Analysis of a 2-Year Old Psychotic Girl. Int. R.
Psycho-Anal., 15:73-81
_Piontelli, A. (1987) Infant Observation from
Before Birth. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 68: 453-463
_Romana, Negri. (1994). The Newborn in the Intensive Care
Unit. London: Karnac Books.
_Reid, S. (Ed.). (1997). Developments in
Infant Observation. London, New York: Routledge.
_Shuttleworth,
J. (1995) “Psychoanalytic theory and infant development” in “Closely
Observed Infants” London: Duckworth
(pp. 22-50)
_Sorenson, P. “Thoughts on the
Containing Process from the Perspective of Infant/Mother Relations,”
Chapter 7 in Development in Infant
Observation.
_Winnicott, D. (1991) 12 ed. The Maturational
Processes and the Facilitating Environment. Connecticut: International University Press.
_Winnicott, D.“The Depressive Position in Normal Emotional
Development” Collected Papers of D. Winnicott”, Chapter XXI, pages 262 -277
_Winnicott, D.W. (1971). Playing and Reality.
New York: Routledge.
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