Infant Observation and Research ─ Emotional Processes in Everyday Lives

Psychoanalytic infant observation is frequently used in training psychoanalytic psychotherapists and allied professionals, but increasingly its value as a research method is being recognised, particularly in understanding developmental processes in vulnerable individuals and groups. This book explores the scope of this approach and discusses its strengths and limitations from a methodological and philosophical point of view.
Infant Observation and Research uses detailed case studies to demonstrate the research potential of the infant observation method. Divided into three sections this book covers


infant observation as part of the learning process


how infant observation can inform understanding and influence practice


psychoanalytic infant observation and other methodologies.

Throughout the book, Cathy Urwin, Janine Sternberg and their contributors introduce the reader to the nature and value of psychoanalytic infant observation and its range of application. This book will therefore interest a range of mental health practitioners concerned with early development and infants' emotional relationships, as well as academics and researchers in the social sciences and humanities.

Introduction. Part I: Epistemology and Infant Observation as Part of the Learning Process. Price, Cooper, The Baby in Mind: The Practical and Clinical Relevance of Debates about the Epistemological Status of the Observed Baby. Rustin, Infant Observation Research: Questions of Method. Music, How Do We Know the Ways in Which Infants Experience the World? Lessons From Child Development Research. Sternberg, Infant Observation: Why it is at the Heart of Training. Trowell, Miles, An Account of an Application in the Training of Front Line Professionals with Children and Families. Part II: How Infant Observation Can Inform Understanding and Influence Practice. Urwin, Observing Cultural Difference and Observing Ourselves. Reid, The Experience of Babies Born After a Perinatal Loss. Shallcross, What Can be Learned from a Single Case of Psychoanalytic Infant Observation? Wakelyn, Infant Observation in Foster Care. Rhode, Infant Observation as an Early Intervention: Lessons from a Pilot Research Project. Part III: Psychoanalytic Infant Observation and Other Methodologies. Jones, A New Way of Helping a Traumatised and Emotionally Frozen Mother Observe and Be With her Baby. Briggs, Behringer, The Links Between Infant Observation Research and Other Paradigms. Bradley, Selby, Urwin, Group Life in Babies: Establishing a Method. Datler, Trunkenpolz, Lazar, Observing in Nursing Homes: The Use of Single Case and Organisational Observation as a Research Tool. Shuttleworth, 'Faith and Culture': Community Life and the Creation of a Shared Psychic Reality. Miller, Afterword.