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ABSTRACT
This overview starts in the 1960s and extends to 2022. It addresses debates about the technique of the observer and the conduct of seminars and describes the many changes in practice over that period. It summarises some of the important discoveries which drew on infant observation as well as clinical experience: Bick’s ‘second skin’, Maiello’s ‘sound object’, Meltzer’s ‘aesthetic conflict’, and numerous investigations of infants with particular vulnerabilities, including Piontelli’s twin studies and more recent observations of infants in a variety of particular life circumstances such as those born via surrogacy or living in foster care. The impressive extensions of the observational method beyond infancy and the use of observation as a clinical intervention are discussed. Finally, the adaptations of the method necessitated by the global pandemic are explored, with an emphasis on the changed role of the mother in distant observation. A clinical example using many different forms of distant contact to support a highly vulnerable mother/ infant couple is presented as an encouragement to engage with new ways of working.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on the contributor
Margaret Rustin is a child, adolescent and adult psychotherapist and a child analyst at the British Psychoanalytical Society. She trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London and worked there from 1968 to 2009, becoming Head of Child Psychotherapy and Dean of Postgraduate Studies. Since retiring, she continues to teach and maintains a private practice.
Notes
1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the IPA pre-Congress event on Infant Observation and Parent- Infant Psychotherapy at the IPA Pre Congress in 2021