Six Children : The Spectrum of Child Psychopathology and Its Treatment

Theoretically anchored and historically informed, __Six Children__ is a book about the nuances of child psychoanalysis as these unfold in the encounter with different forms of early life anguish. Addressing autistic, homeless, and hopeless children on the one hand, and greedy, betrayed, and angry children on the other, the book attempts to integrate developmental deficits, intrapsychic conflicts, and constitutional givens in evolving a deeper understanding of both severe and milder psychopathology. Ample clinical illustrations are provided and technical interventions pertinent to each of these situations are carefully fleshed out. Equal attention is given to holding and interpretation; family intervention and individual focus, and affect management and mentalization. The fact that the six main chapters of the book are sandwiched between a careful review and update of the field of child analysis makes the book especially suited for being used as a teaching tool in didactic curricula. A comprehensive and carefully selected bibliography imparts the book a scholarly quality, which exists alongside the text's literary and humane cadence. Theoretically anchored and historically informed, Six Children is a book about the nuances of child psychoanalysis as these unfold in the encounter with different forms of early life anguish. Addressing autistic, homeless, and despondent children on the one hand, and greedy, betrayed, and angry children on the other, the book attempts to integrate developmental deficits, intrapsychic conflicts, and constitutional givens in evolving a deeper understanding of both severe and milder psychopathology. Ample clinical illustrations are provided and technical interventions pertinent to each of these situations are carefully fleshed out. Equal attention is given to holding and interpretation, family intervention and individual focus, and affect management and mentalization. The fact that the six main chapters of the book are sandwiched between a careful review and update of the field of child analysis makes the book especially suited for being used as a teaching tool in didactic curricula. A comprehensive and carefully selected bibliography imparts the book a scholarly quality, which exists alongside the text's literary and humane cadence. COVER 1 CONTENTS 8 Acknowledgements 10 About the author 12 Introduction 14 Chapter One Child analysis—a brief historical review of its development 16 Part I Severe psychopathology 42 Chapter Two The autistic child 44 Chapter Three The homeless child 62 Chapter Four The hopeless child 82 Part II Milder psychopathology 100 Chapter Five The betrayed child 102 Chapter Six The greedy child 118 Chapter Seven The angry child 134 Epilogue 150 Chapter Eight Child analysis—future directions 152 Note 162 References 164 Index 176