Introduction to infant observation: an infant's inner world / Infant observation in psycho-analytic training / Three years infant observation with Esther Bick / A feeding observation: from breast to finger food! / The dangers and deprivations of too-good mothering / Premature twins on a neonatal intensive care unit / A therapeutic application of infant observation in child psychiatry / The shadow of ending: a retrospective qualitative research study of mothers' experience of infant observation / On-going physical trauma in an infant observation / The mother-observer relationship: an examination of the participant role of the observer in mother-infant observation / Maternal disavowal in the face of abuse of an infant by her sibling / Multiple mothering in an Indian context / Representations of mother in the daughter of a single, gay father / Struggling with cultural prejudice while observing babies: socio-centric and egocentric positions / Frances Thomson-Salo -- Esther Bick -- Jeanne Magagna -- Jane Blatt -- Juliet Hopkins -- Margaret Cohen -- Didier Houzel -- Dimitra Bekos -- Frances Thomson-Salo -- Helga Coulter -- Anthony Cantle -- Aiveen Bharucha -- Sally Moskowitz -- Graham Music.
Seminal and representative papers have been chosen to illustrate the vital importance of infant observation in psychoanalytic training, tracing influences on the practice of infant observation and contemporary developments. The book outlines the thinking that has evolved since Esther Bick's introduction of this innovative component in Tavistock child psychotherapy and British Psychoanalytical Society training. With a newly written substantial general introduction, and Esther Bick's central paper on infant observation, other authors include Jeanne Magagna, Anthony Cantle, Maggie Cohen, Juliet H.