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Analytical psychologists interested in the study and treatment of children will find this an interesting summary of the classical Freudian view of child development, its assessment and rationale of child analysis.
The book is written with Miss Freud's usual precision and economy of language as well as tightly-woven argument. It can be divided into three parts. First is a general discussion of the psychoanalytic view of development. The aims, methods and limitations of the methods of psychoanalysis are presented together with their historic development.
In the second are chapters on the assessment of normality and pathology. A detailed structural account is given of the development of the psyche, the causes of stress, innate and environmental, their results and assessment. The concept of developmental lines is discussed and the stages given in several, e.g. ‘from dependency to emotional self reliance and adult object relations’—‘from suckling to rational eating’—‘from egocentricity to companionship’—‘from the body to the toy and from play to work’. This section culminates in the outline of a diagnostic profile.
The third section is concerned with ‘Some infantile presages of adult psychopathology’. Here is discussed the form and meaning of psychopathology in childhood and its relationship to adult disturbance. There is a final brief discussion of child analysis.
This is not a book for analytic beginners in that it assumes familiarity with, and sophistication in the use of, Freudian concepts. Indeed, it gives the impression of being a book written for those on ‘the inside’ to provide further extensions, classifications and applications of familiar concepts. Thus questions are directed only at refinements within