THE STORY OF INFANT DEVELOPMENT

Clinical work with Martha Harris by Romana Negri

Preface by Gianna Williams click here

CONTENTS

Introduction (Romana Negri)

Methods of infant observation and play observation, founded on the work of Klein and Bick, as described and taught by Martha Harris.

Chapter 1 – The pattern of normal development: forming a relationship with the breast

Simone and his mother. A stunning experience; a state of normal non-integration and evacuation of feelings; the pull of the nipple; maternal depression and the difficulty of introjecting the object; digesting emotions; problems of idealisation in the mother; the breast that comes and goes away; the bottle and a distance from the mother; the significance of the dummy for the mother

Chapter 2 – The pattern of normal development: the end of breastfeeding

Simone and his family. The end of breastfeeding and the feelings of the adults surrounding the child; feelings of aggression and seduction; representations of the breast; the lost breast and the nipple lifeline; mother returns to work – the new sweetheart; the only baby; the relationship with the father; how the new baby is made; the little chair – the new place in the family.

Chapter 3 – The pattern of normal development: the birth of the next sibling

Simone, his family and school. Feminine and masculine qualities; the use of fairy stories; the epistemophilic instinct; one day it will be his turn; a point of catastrophic change; birth of the next sibling; the `idiot’ infantile self; the story of Genesis according to Melanie Klein (Donald Meltzer); the second day at nursery school (with Donald Meltzer).

Chapter 4 – A three year old uses the gang as container

(with Donald Meltzer) Angelo’s little society. The gang as container; second skin and circularity of time; the parents’ unfulfilled childhood.

Chapter 5 –Play Observation and Infant Observation in a Hospital Setting

Some diagnostic uses of play observation: Eleonora (differentiating between infantile psychosis and neurotic anxiety); Daniela (differentiating between epilepsy and psychosomatic illness); Vittoria (differentiating between brain pathology and mental insufficiency: observer, Laura Musetti).

Two infant observation cases demonstrate the early internalisation of the object (Matteo), together with some problems of childhood obsessionality, and the meaningfulness of the mother’s look or glance (Giuseppino).