Preface

THIS book is based on the observations I have been able to make in the course of my psycho-analytic work with children. My original plan was to devote the first part of it to a description of the technique I have elaborated and the second to a statement of the theoretical conclusions to which my practical work has gradually brought me, and which now seem in their turn well fitted to assist the technique I employ. But in the course of writing this book—a task which has extended over several years—the second part has outgrown its limits. In addition to my experience of Child Analysis, the observations I have made in analysing adults have led me to apply my views concerning the earliest developmental stages of the child to the psychology of the adult as well, and I have come to certain conclusions which I shall bring forward in these pages as a contribution to the general psycho-analytic theory of the earliest stages of the development of the individual.

That contribution is in every respect based on the body of knowledge transmitted to us by Freud. It was by applying his findings that I gained access to the minds of small children and could analyse and cure them. In doing this, moreover, I was able to make those direct observations of early developmental processes which have led me to my present theoretic conclusions. Those conclusions contain a full confirmation of the knowledge Freud has gained from