On the relevance of the observation of infants and young children to psychotherapeutic work with adults

Abstract

This paper looks briefly at the relevance of infant and young child observation courses to work with adults and then goes on to describe how a normal young child aged 2% coped with two quite sudden changes in her life and the psychological mechanisms she used to manage her anxieties. These mechanisms - displacement, use of transitional objects, fantasy and symbolism - might equally be used by adults in later life when faced with uncertainty and change. Links are then made to psychotherapeutic work with adults.

Key Words:

• Psychodynamic counselling
• young child observation
• infant observation
• defences against change