Steps and Lines: Introducing Nonlinear Thinking into the Psychoanalytic Conversation

PETER B. NEUBAUER WAS AN EDITOR OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDY OF THE CHILD for thirty years. He was committed to psychoanalysis in general and the psychoanalytic concepts that inform development in particular. His breadth of inquiry and his accumulated knowledge was astonishing. While acutely aware of investigations going on world-wide, he was especially attracted to Anna Freud's works. Consequently, it was somewhat surprising to hear him mutter on occasion that her principal contribution about childhood growth should be designated not only as developmental lines but as developmental steps.

He spelled out this distinction slowly. Metaphorically, steps portray sudden abrupt movements to different levels; lines describe a graduated linked sequence. This difference underscores that development is driven both by newly emerging stages of progressive hierarchical organizations as well as by the gradual enhancement of earlier acquisitions. It is both discontinuous and continuous, reflecting the embryological distinction between epigenesis and preformism. In short, the mind is a yield of a complex bringing together of the nonlinear and linear. Development occurs through steps and lines.

Linear thinking has been and continues to be the preferred choice of clinicians and researchers. The papers that follow reflect attempts to introduce Peter's “steps” into the conversation. Each contribution is a product of a study group in which he was a founding member, an active participant, or both. As a collected group these documents attempt to demonstrate how much broader the range of psychoanalytic investigations can be, once developmental steps are differentiated from developmental lines. One paper shows a useful direct application in therapeutic work. Two demonstrate that a nonlinear perspective adds a dimension to earlier research that immediately enhances our approach to understanding and treating children. Another illustrates how “steps”