107A: Infancy and Early Childhood

Course Description

Instructors

Sarah Fox, M.D.
Amber Nemeth, Ph.D.

October 4 – December 13, 2023
Wednesdays, 8:35 – 10:00 pm
No class: 11/22

Course Description

The core of this course lies in the classical psychoanalytic conceptualization of the mind of the infant and young child. During the past forty years or so new ideas have emerged that constitute a change in perspective from the traditional point of view about the mind of the developing child. What is the nature of these ideas, and how do we understand them in terms of the classical psychoanalytic understanding of mental functioning and the quality of the infantile experiences?

Accordingly, we will start with an introduction to the traditional psychoanalytic conceptualization of the developing mind of the child with reference to the ideas of Freud, Anna Freud, and Spitz. Mahler’s developmental account of separation-individuation will provide a clinical backdrop for exploring ideas about aggression, defenses, the parent-child relationship, psychic conflict, identification and gender identity.

We will then show how current theories of the nature of the child’s mind have evolved from this base starting with a shift to an object relations focus primarily within the British school stemming originally from the work of Klein (followed by Bion, Fairbairn, Guntrip, Winnicott). But it was Bowlby who subsequently took the object relations line of development even further by insisting on a research-based psychoanalytic theory with an ethological perspective on mental function. We will take several sessions to study Attachment Theory and the clinical practices that have evolved from it.

The research perspective attracted the academic world and within a few decades developmental psychologists provided a vast array of experimental studies that added a further perspective to the conceptualization of the mind of the infant and young child. We will touch upon some of these studies citing the work of Beebe, Stern, Tronick by focusing on studies of mother-child interaction and the shift in thinking that led to a two-person intersubjectivity clinical approach. A series of questions will be asked about the impact of these studies on clinical understanding and practice.

To complete this course we will use clinical material to discuss the developmental passage to the oedipal phase and point out the threads of continuity between early infantile disturbances and later adult psychopathology.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

1. describe the classical psychoanalytic understanding of the structure and psychic development of the mind of the infant and young child.
2. explain the clinical and research implications of the different perspectives that have evolved regarding the mind of the infant and young child.
3. describe the emergence and early development of concepts of internalization and identification, intrapsychic conflict, defense, compromise formation, and object relations.

Evaluation Method

Each student’s participation in class discussion and demonstration of understanding of the course objectives, readings and clinical material is assessed in a written evaluation by the instructor(s).

Schedule of Classes & Course Readings

These articles are protected under relevant copyright regulations. They are available in the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Electronic Reserve for your convenience, and for your personal use.

READINGS ARE CONFIRMED.

I. Introduction and Overview of Development and the Emergence of the Mind

CLASS 1: October 4, 2023

Stern, D.N. (1985). The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology. New York: Basic Books. [Read preface – p. 23]

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Freud, A. (1963). The Concept of Developmental Lines. Psychoanal. St. Child, 18:245-265.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

Eagle, M. (2011). From classical to Contemporary psychoanalysis. Routledge, New York, pp.15-19 The basic paradigm; pp. 30-32 Ego functions. (Skim)

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Fraiberg, S. (1982). Pathological defenses in infancy, Psychoanal. Quarterly. pp. 612-635. (Skim)

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Freud, A. (1966). The Writings of Anna Freud: the Ego and Mechanisms of Defense. IUP, vol.2. Chapter 1 (pp.3-10); Chapter 4 (pp. 42-53); Chapter 5 (pp. 54-65).

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Green, V. & Joyce, A. (2016). Revised Diagnostic Profile 2016:Revisions, Rational and Further Thoughts, Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, vol 16, No. 2, 138-148.

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Kris, E. (1956). The Recovery of Childhood Memories in Psychoanalysis, PSC, 11:54- 88 (especially 60-65; 72-77).

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Settlage, C. (1980). Psychoanalytic theory and understanding of psychic development in the second and third years of life. In: The Course of Life; vol.1, Infancy and Early Childhood, (Eds.) S. Greenspan & G.H. Pollach, NIMH, pp. 523 – 540.

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II. Attachment Theory

CLASS 2: October 11, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Fraiberg, S., Adelson, E., and Shapiro, V. (1975). Ghosts in the Nursery: A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Problems of Impaired Infant-Mother Relationships, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 14: 387-421.

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Slade, A. (2000). The Development and Organization of Attachment: Implications for Psychoanalysis. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 48(4):1147-1174.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Moran, G., Higitt, A. (1993). Measuring the ghost in the nursery: An empirical study of the relation between parents’ representations of childhood experiences and their infants’ security of attachment. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assoc.41: pp. 957-989.

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Slade, A. (June 2002). Keeping the baby in mind: A critical factor in perinatal mental health, In: Zero to Three, pp.10-16. (Mentalization in the Clinical Setting)

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Steele, M., Bate, J., Nikitiades, A., Buhl-Nielson, B. (2015). Attachment in adolescence and borderline personality disorder, J. of Infant , Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 14:1, pp. 16-32.

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III. Separation-Individuation / Good Enough Mothering / Transitional Objects

CLASS 3: October 18, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Kanwal, K. (2023). Integrative Individuation: An Alternative to the Separation-Individuation model. JAPA 71:419-444.

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Mahler, M.S. (1972). On the First Three Subphases of the Separation-Individuation Process, Int. J. Psychoanal., 53: 333-338.

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Pine, F. (1979). On the Pathology of the Separation-Individuation Process as Manifested In Later Clinical Work. Int. J. Psychoanal., 60: 225-241.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

McDevitt, J. (1971). Preoedipal Determinants of an Infantile Neurosis. In: Separation Individuation: Essays in Honor of Margaret S. Mahler, eds. J.B. McDevitt and C.F. Settlage. New York: IUP, pp 201-226.

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McDevitt, J. & Mahler, M. (1980). Object constancy, Individuality, and Internalization. In: Course of Life, In: S. Greenspan & G.H. Pollach (Eds), Vol.1, NIMH, pp. 407-424.

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McDevitt, J.B. (1997). The continuity of conflict and compromise formation from infancy to adulthood: A twenty-five-year follow-up study. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 45:105-126.

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Olesker, W. (1998). Conflict and compromise in gender identity formation: a longitudinal study. Psychoanal. Study of Child, vol.53. pp. 212-230.

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Ritvo, S. and Solnit, A. (1958). Influences of early mother-child interaction on Identification processes. Psychoanal. Study of Child, 13: 64-91.

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IV. Process of Internalization (Incorporation, Introjection, and Identification) Emergence of Conflict

(Guest Instructor: Wendy Olesker, Ph.D.)

CLASS 4: October 25, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Gilmore, K. & Meersand, P. (2014). Normal Child and Adolescent Development: A Psychodynamic Primer, American Psychiatric Publishing: Washington DC., The Todder, pp. 45-71.

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McDevitt, J. (1979). The Role of Internalization in the Development of Object Relations During the Separation-Individuation Phase, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 27:327-343.

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V. Theory of Mind / Mentalization

CLASS 5: November 1, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Target, M. Fonagy, P. (1996). Playing With Reality: II. The Development Of Psychic Reality From A Theoretical Perspective. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 77:459-479.

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Winnicott, D.W. (1953). Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena—A Study of the First Not-Me Possession. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 34:89-97.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

Fonagy, P. Target, M. (1996). Playing With Reality: I. Theory Of Mind And The Normal Development Of Psychic Reality. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 77:217-233.

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Fonagy, P. (1995). Playing With Reality: The Development Of Psychic Reality And Its Malfunction In Borderline Personalities. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 76:39-44.

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VI. Infant Sexuality and Gender

CLASS 6: November 8, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Freud, S. (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Essay #2, S.E. 7: 173-206.

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Chodorow, N. (2012). Individualizing Gender and Sexuality: Theory and Practice. Routledge. [Read Chapter 2]

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Tyson, P. (1989). Infantile Sexuality, Gender Identity, and Obstacles to Oedipal Progression. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 37:1051-1069.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

Kulish, N. (2010). Clinical Implications of Contemporary Gender Theory. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 58(2):231-258.

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VII. The Kleinian View of Infant Development: Points of Contact and Divergence from the Classical View

(Guest Instructor: Daria Colombo, M.D.)

CLASS 7: November 15, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Mitchell, S., & Black, M. (1995). Melanie Klein and contemporary theory. In: Freud and Beyond, Basic Books, New York, pp. 85-111. (skim).

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Pick, I. (1992). The emergence of early object relations in the psychoanalytic setting. In: Clinical Lectures on Klein and Bion, (Ed.), E. Spillius, Tavistock/Routledge, London, New York, pp. 24-27.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

Shuttleworth, J. (2002). Psychoanalytic theory and infant development. In: Closely Observed Infants, (Eds.) L. Moller, M. Rustin, Judy Shuttleworth, Duckworth, Gr. Britain, pp. 22-51.

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VIII. Oedipal Phase Development

CLASS 8: November 29, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Freud, S. (1924). The dissolution of the Oedipus Complex. S.E. 19: pp.173-179.

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Kulish, N. (2011). Obstacles to Oedipal Passion. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 80:3-32.

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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

Simon, B. (1991). Is the Oedipus Complex Still the Cornerstone of Psychoanalysis? Three Obstacles to Answering the Question. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 39:641-668.

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IX. Race

CLASS 9: December 6, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Harnett, N.G. and Kerry, R.J. (2021). Structural Racism as a Proximal Cause for Race-Related Differences in Psychiatric Disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 178(7):579-581.

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Stoute, B. J. (2019). Racial Socialization and Thwarted Mentalization: Psychoanalytic Reflections from the Lived Experience of James Baldwin’s America. American Imago, 76:335-357.

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X. Father and the Analytic Third

CLASS 10: December 13, 2023
REQUIRED READINGS

Diamond, M. J. (2017). Recovering the Father in Mind and Flesh: History, Triadic Functioning, and Developmental Implications. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 86:297-334.

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Adams, C. J. (2019). Black Fatherhood in a Time of Fluidity. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 16:326-339.

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