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Psychoanalysis has often been criticized for having a too narrow focus on issues and theory related either to the consulting room or to applications such as film and literature. Despite recent publications such as Altman's (1995), it has been seen with some justification as existing in an ivory tower. This is especially true for front-line workers who deal with the problems of children affected by poverty, violence, drugs, and other symptoms of a society that seems designed to privilege the few at the expense of the majority The Vulnerable Child series offers a welcome shift in direction with its emphasis on a wide range of children's clinical problems seen more often in clinics than in private offices. This third volume of The Vulnerable Child series continues the tradition of addressing the social, family, economic, and psychological factors that affect child development and psychopathology. It is divided into four parts, with articles on violence, trauma, addiction, narcissism, and twins, as well as on treatment and developmental issues. To a degree, the editors have been eclectic in their choices, and the eighteen articles include clinical and developmental theory, psychopathology, empirical research, program description and evaluation, and infant and toddler observation, as well as sociological and legal issues.
Space permits comment on only a sampling of the articles.
The opening essay on violence by Etezady sets the tone for many of the articles in the first section. He not only focuses on the importance of parental care in promoting the capacity to modulate hostility and develop superego controls, but also ties the increase in violence to the deterioration in social institutions. Significantly, he focuses on socio-economic factors, quietly noting our current blind allegiance to laissez-faire capitalism and its inevitable degradation of the social order
Sugarman, a classical analyst, discusses countertransference and transference issues in working with an adoles