Intimate Transformations: Babies with Their Families

This inspiring volume highlights the importance of infant observation in psychotherapy training, as well as its benefits for the observer's personal growth. Following Esther Bick's infant observation model, the authors show how observing babies can contribute greatly to understanding the relationship between the baby and his parents, as well as the relationship between the parents, and the general mental well-being of the immediate family. Inspiring case studies accompany the theory and readers get immersed in these vignettes as they discuss observing premature babies, healthy babies, babies with troubled parents, and sibling rivalry. The papers discuss the crucial element of mother-baby dialogue and how this special relationship is manifested through movements, gestures, and vocalizations. The need for continuity in primal relationships at the early stages of life is acknowledged and its contribution to emotional and mental health later in life is celebrated in this volume.
The contributions also analyze the possible negative effects of an observer's presence in the family setting--something of a neglected topic in infant observation literature. Practical matters of infant observation are brought forward and discussed, and a pioneering work including infant observation seminar via video-link is also detailed in the book.

"Remarkable for its breadth and depth, "Intimate Transformations" is a vivid demonstration of infant observation and its value for the study of human development, psychotherapy practice, education, and institutional consultation. "Intimate Transformations" immerses therapists in the world of early experience and unconscious fantasy and brings us face to face with the precious resource of our own inner world. The contributors' detailed descriptions are important reading for therapists, parents, and educators. They plunge therapists deep into a discussion of the primitive fantasies that underlie the distress of adult patients. They give parents more than a glimpse of subtleties that escape their attention when they are on the front line raising their own children." --Jill Savege Scharff M.D., M.R.C.Psych., Co-Director International Psychotherapy Institute, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University, Washington DC, and Teaching Analyst, Washington Psychoanalytic Institute

The Contributors: Simonetta Adamo, Nancy Bakalar, Hope Cooper, Jaedene Levy, Jeanne Magagna, Christine Norman, David Scharff, and Carolyn Shank