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Since weekly infant observation was initiated by Esther Bick some forty years ago as a cornerstone of the pre-clinical training for psychoanalytic candidates at the Institute of Psycho-Analysis and child psychotherapy trainees at the Tavistock Clinic, many child and adult psychoanalytic and psychotherapy organisations worldwide have included it in their training. It had therefore had an enormous influence on psychoanalytical practice, showing to observers not only the subtleties and intensities of the early relationship between the infant and his or her mother, father and family, but also the value of containment without interpretation, of observation without intervention. It is striking that infant observation has not, until recent years, had much of a public voice but for a long time has, like the observer, remained relatively silent. Infant Observation is part of a movement which seeks to articulate and publish some of the findings in this fertile area. Several books on the subject have also been published in the last ten years (see bibliography on page 283).
This new journal will be published three times a year, and each edition will have two different Guest Editors; for this edition they are Susan Reid and Michael Rustin, who have also contributed papers. The journal fills an important gap, since there is none other devoted specifically to this topic. The aim seems to be to place infant observation fairly and squarely on the map as more than a preparatory requirement for psychotherapy and psychoanalytic trainings. Infant observation is seen as making significant contributions to theory and practice in its own right.
Michael Rustin in his contribution stakes a claim for infant observation as a research tool, based mainly upon detailed observational accounts, and likens it to the kind of research undertaken by psychoanalysts who use the consulting-room as a ‘laboratory’, and their case-descriptions as the basis for theoretical advances. He points out that a major d