Intimate Transformations

This enriching book describes the value of learning about the development of the human personality through the experience of observing a baby in the context of the family. It is distinctive in the field of infant observation literature, for it shows how the affective learning model augments the learning experience. It also highlights a somewhat neglected area of observational study: the relationship between siblings and its influence on the development of self-esteem of the younger child. Introduction -- Observing Babies in Their Families -- The origins of self-esteem in infancy -- The sibling link -- The role of the mother in developing the capacity to bear emotion -- One, two, three, baby you and me: baby’s experience of self and others -- Oedipal anxieties, the birth of a new baby, and the role of the observer -- Applications of Infant Observation studies -- Fear of massacre and death: containing anxiety in the neonatal intensive care unit -- Keep on knocking but you can’t come in: rejection as a defence against emotional pain in the NICU -- The shadow of your smile: intrusion or engulfment -- Learning from infant observation: understanding adults in psychoanalytic psychotherapy -- The Infant Observation Seminar Group -- Teaching infant observation: developing a language of understanding -- Teaching infant observation by video-link -- Infant observation augmented by the affective learning experience -- Learning through affective group experience -- Concluding remarks