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The Newborn in the Intensive Care Unit: A Neuropsychoanalytic Prevention Model £25.19 – £37.00
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The Tavistock Model: Collected Papers of Martha Harris and Esther Bick £25.19 – £37.00

The Story of Infant Development

Authors: Romana Negri and Martha Harris

£21.59 – £31.99

The Story of Infant Development details Romana Negri’s close observation of a child (Simone) from birth to age three, accompanied by perceptive comments from her supervisor Martha Harris, who developed Observational Studies at the Tavistock Clinic. Also included are chapters on further clinical supervisions of young children, in hospital as part of their diagnostic assessment and in therapy.

Authors

Romana Negri and Martha Harris
ISBN

9781912567096
Format

Paperback, e-Book, Print & e-Book
Page Extent

260
Publication Date

April 2018
Subject Areas

Child & Adolescent, Psychoanalysis
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Description

Romana Negri, known for her pioneering work in neonatal intensive care units, here presents the transcribed tapes of her detailed observation of a normally developing infant in a family context, an observation which Martha Harris supervised for three years. The story represents a unique record of the normal, but unique, growth of an individual personality from birth onwards. Other chapters in the book present observations of children in hospital that formed part of their diagnostic assessment, and the book includes some commentaries by Donald Meltzer and Martha Harris together.

Contents

Contents

Editorial Note
Meg Harris Williams

Preface
Gianna Polacco Williams

Introduction
Romana Negri

CHAPTER ONE
The pattern of normal development: forming a relationship with the breast
A stunning experience
A state of normal non-integration and evacuation of sensations
The pull of the nipple
Maternal depression and the difficulty of introjecting the object
Digesting emotions
Problems of identification in the mother
The breast that comes and goes away
The bottle, and a distance from the mother

CHAPTER TWO
The pattern of normal development: the end of breastfeeding
The end of breastfeeding
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 THREE
The story of the birth of the next sibling
Feminine and masculine qualities
The value of fairy tales
The epistemophilic instinct
One day it will be his turn
A point of “catastrophic change”
Birth of the next sibling
The “imbecile” infantile self that damages its objects
The second day at nursery school (with Donald Meltzer)
The third birthday

CHAPTER FOUR
A three-year-old uses the gang as container
Summary of the first two observation sessions
The gang and circularity of time
The parents’ unfulfilled childhood (with Donald Meltzer)

CHAPTER FIVE
Play observation in a hospital setting: some diagnostic implications
Eleanora: redefining a diagnosis of child psychosis as neurotic anxiety
Daniela: redefining a diagnosis of epilepsy as psychosomatic illness
Vittoria: redefining a diagnosis of brain pathology in terms of mental insufficiency
Infant observation: Matteo (early internalization of the object)
Infant observation: Giuseppino (the relation of the child’s way of looking to the mother’s emotional condition)

Index

About the Authors

About the Authors

Romana Negri graduated in medicine and trained as a child neuropsychiatrist at the University of Milan. From 1970 onwards she attended the seminars of Martha Harris and Donald Meltzer and commenced work projects inspired and influenced by their teaching. From 1976 to 2004 she was a consultant in the Special Care Baby Unit at the Caravaggio Hospital, Treviglio, publishing some of her research findings in The Newborn in the Intensive Care Unit. Since 1982 she has been a professor at Milan University, teaching in the paediatric department of the School of Medicine and the School of Psychiatry and Psychology. She is also responsible for early pathology consultation at the Sacco Hospital in Milan. She has published over one hundred papers in the field of early psychopathology and child psychiatry in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and England.

Martha Harris (1919–1987) read English at University College London and then Psychology at Oxford. She taught in a Froebel Teacher Training College and was trained as a Psychologist at Guys Hospital, as a Child Psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic, where she was for many years responsible for the child psychotherapy training in the department of Children and Families, and as a Psychoanalyst at the British Institute of Psychoanalysis. Together with her first husband Roland Harris (a teacher) she started a pioneering schools counselling service. With her second husband Donald Meltzer she wrote a psychoanalytical model of The Child in the Family in the Community for multidisciplinary use in schools and therapeutic units.

3 reviews for The Story of Infant Development

  1. Jonathan Bradley, former Organizing Tutor of the Tavistock Observational Studies Course –

    ‘This book brings together the closely observed development of Simone (from birth to three) and the perceptive comments of Martha (or Mattie) Harris, who was such an influential figure in the development of the Observational Studies Course at the Tavistock. Romana Negri’s pioneering work on neonatal intensive care units is informed both by infant observation and by psychoanalysis. She presents in this volume the transcribed tapes of her detailed observation of a normally developing infant, whom Martha Harris supervised for three years. Other chapters present observations of children in hospital that formed part of their diagnostic assessment, and the book includes commentaries by Donald Meltzer and Martha Harris together. This book will be of outstanding interest to all readers whether parents, teachers, or mental health professionals who wish to deepen their understanding of the roots of mental life.’

  2. Maria Rhode, Professor of Child Psychotherapy, Tavistock Clinic/University of East London –

    ‘Romana Negri’s pioneering work on neonatal intensive care units is informed both by infant observation and by psychoanalysis. She presents in this volume the transcribed tapes of her detailed observation of a normally developing infant, whom Martha Harris supervised for three years. Other chapters present observations of children in hospital that formed part of their diagnostic assessment, and the book also includes commentaries by Donald Meltzer and Martha Harris together. This book will be of outstanding interest to all readers – whether parents, teachers, or mental health professionals – who wish to deepen their understanding of the roots of mental life.’

  3. Margaret Rustin, former Head of Child Psychotherapy, Tavistock Clinic –

    ‘What a pleasure it is to have this record of a sustained encounter with the inspirational teaching of Martha Harris, to whom a whole generation of child psychotherapists feel they owe their fundamental psychoanalytic education and approach to child development and family relationships. The book reminds us of her fresh and lively imagination, disciplined attention to the observational detail, and unrivalled capacity to contain and encourage her students. The children she discusses become complex and memorable individuals through her illuminating commentary. Indeed, her work offers a model of the integration of theory, clinical imagination and life wisdom, and allows the reader to share the creation of meaning through dialogue.’

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