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...

The Silent Child describes a way of understanding and communicating with children who are not speaking, but rather using their bodies and somatic symptoms to express states of mind. Jeanne Magagna has worked for 45 years trying to find ways of helping these children, varying in age and symptoms. Using infant observation methods of understanding primitive states of mind expressed through gestures of eyes, hands, body posture, she has worked in in-patient or out-patient settings with contributors: a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, family and child psychotherapists,...

Creativity and Psychotic States in Exceptional People tells the story of the lives of four exceptionally gifted individuals: 　 Vincent van Gogh, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jose Saramago and John Nash.　 Previously unpublished chapters by Murray Jackson are set in a contextual framework by Jeanne Magagna, revealing the wellspring of creativity in the subjects' emotional experiences and delving into the nature of psychotic states which influence and impede the creative process.

Jackson and Magagna aim to illustrate how psychoanalytic　thinking can be...

Creativity and Psychotic States in Exceptional People tells the story of the lives of four exceptionally gifted individuals: 　 Vincent van Gogh, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jose Saramago and John Nash.　 Previously unpublished chapters by Murray Jackson are set in a contextual framework by Jeanne Magagna, revealing the wellspring of creativity in the subjects' emotional experiences and delving into the nature of psychotic states which influence and impede the creative process.

Jackson and Magagna aim to illustrate how psychoanalytic　thinking can be...

This book represents an innovative project in which parents, teachers and other professionals work collaboratively to observe children, understand them at a deep emotional level through their play and interaction with others, and facilitate their relationships with themselves as individuals and with others. The work described has been particularly important in nurturing children's creativity and fostering effective relationships between teachers, parents and children. The innovative nursery described has been an important preventative facility in promoting the wellbeing of young children. The...

Originally published in 1981, this study is the outcome of a clinical workshop based in the Adolescent Department at the Tavistock Clinic; its members at the time shared a tradition and interest in applying psychoanalytic principles to the understanding of groups and institutions and believed in the crucial relevance of these in work with families. It is written with the general reader in mind as well as those who work specifically in the field of family therapy or psychoanalysis.

The approach is based on two particular developments; that of Object Relations Psychoanalytic practice,...